Mandates more police training on trauma

A new Colorado law to strengthen victim protections and mandate law enforcement training on how trauma can affect survivors of sex crimes and domestic violence is now on its way to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk for signing.

Senate Bill 26-095 recently passed unanimously in the Senate and was mostly unopposed in the House with a vote of 58-2, with five excused.

Victim advocates call it a victory that is both overdue and much needed in the state.

Sponsor State Sen. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora, said he drafted the measure “to respond to problems that survivors have experienced in our criminal and civil legal systems.”

“When survivors are so often not heard by our legal systems and sometimes fear to come forward seeking remedies at all, it matters deeply that our legislature is turning survivors’ experiences into law this year.,” Weissman said in an email to The Denver Gazette.

The passage also comes on the heels of a Denver Gazette investigation published Feb. 27 that examined the response by police and prosecutors in Colorado to reported sexual assault and how the overwhelming number of cases are dropped.

The Denver Gazette found that over the past decade in Colorado, for every 10 reported rape case, only one resulted in an arrest.

By comparison, using Colorado Bureau of Investigation crime statistics, The Denver Gazette found that over the same time period, the ratio of arrests to reports for other serious crimes against persons in the state is roughly three times higher than for rapes. In some crimes, like murder and manslaughter, the arrest-to-report ratio is six times higher than that of rapes.

Elizabeth Newman, public policy director for the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Violence, cited those findings while testifying before lawmakers in March, saying they showed “not only did law enforcement response cause harm to the survivor, it rarely led to accountability.”

As part of the new law, two-hours of in-service training annually will now be required “to improve a peace officer’s understanding of the impact of trauma on victim-survivors of crimes and the optimal way for a peace officer to respond to victim-survivors who are experiencing or responding to trauma.”

Another key element of the law is the ability for alleged victims of sex crimes or domestic violence to give testimony remotely in a room separate from the suspect.

In committee hearings, multiple survivors talked of how they felt intimidated by being in close proximity to the accused, and how it would re-trigger their trauma causing them to freeze or sound confused which damaged their credibility.

At the time, James Karbach, director of legislative policy and spokesperson for the Colorado State Public Defender, cautioned lawmakers there could be constitutional legal challenges to that particular provision in the law.

Under the 6th Amendment, a suspect is guaranteed the right to face an accuser, which might not be seen as possible if they are in a separate location. Historically, he said, the face-to-face requirement was to prevent false accusations.

Other provisions in the new law include a requirement that the medical worker who performs a forensic exam, such as a rape kit, must inform the alleged victim when testing of evidence is complete and how to obtain results.

It will also allow a forensic expert to testify remotely if both sides agree.

Newman applauded the passage of the new law, calling it “a big step forward for survivors who are in the medical, criminal justice and legal system. While there is always more to do to improve support for survivors, we are celebrating this much-needed change.”

Still, some worry it does not go far enough.

Kelly Tobin, an at-risk adult who lives with no lower legs and a total of three fingers, was featured in The Denver Gazette’s investigation and also testified before lawmakers in March. She said she was raped by her medical driver — considered by law a person of trust — who attacked her after forcibly removing her from her motorized wheelchair and carrying her to a bed in her house.

Yet her case went nowhere.

She said the investigating detective predicted it would be hard to prove she did not consent, even though she was left immobilized, sustained injuries and the suspect changed his story after first saying there was no sexual encounter. The Denver District Attorney’s office then told her the case was too nuanced for a jury to understand, she said.

The Denver Police Department and the Denver District Attorney’s Office both declined to comment on the case.

Tobin said she would like future legislation to require suspension or firing for officers who “brazenly disregard state law and their own training operations manual without consequence.”

“Sensitivity (or trauma-informed) training lacks teeth without strong accountability measures,” she said.