law enforcement
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Denver Council hears public testimony on proposed city budget
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Homelessness, public safety and safe streets were key topics for speakers in Monday’s public hearing on the 2023 Denver city budget. More than 40 people signed up to address the council during the hearing. Some of the first speakers pleaded for the city council to recognize the lack of dignity afforded to homeless people in…
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Metro Denver on edge: Community activists press call for police accountability after shootings
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The recent spate of officer-involved shootings in metro Denver that placed the metropolis on edge – four in four days – spurred some community activists to action Monday. At a rally on the west steps of the state Capitol Monday, several groups said they are organizing people across the state in response to the recent…
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Appeals court upholds dismissal of Hispanic juror for believing justice system is racist
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Colorado’s second-highest court found no problem with the prosecution dismissing a Hispanic man from an Arapahoe County jury because of his observation that the judicial system is unfair to racial minorities. But for defendant Dustin Aaron Schwarz, the exclusion of the man from his jury exemplified a larger concern that people of color are being…
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Colorado’s Bennet aims to expand Denver’s alternative policing program as crime surges nationwide
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U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet sees the potential for Denver’s alternative policing program, which responds to low-level emergencies with paramedics and mental health clinicians, to become a nationwide model. Bennet, D-Denver, introduced a bill Wednesday that would fund law enforcement agencies to partner with mental health professionals, case managers and outreach teams. These civilian-led community policing…
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Task force to assess use of facial recognition by Colorado law enforcement, government
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A bill signed into law Wednesday establishes a task force to look into the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement and government agencies in Colorado. Senate Bill 113, scheduled to take effect in August, creates the task force to study how agencies use this technology, as well as potential abuses and needed regulations.…
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House kills bill to ban law enforcement from lying to minors
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In the last act of the 2022 legislative session, the state House Wednesday killed a bill to prohibit law enforcement from lying while interrogating suspects younger than 18. The House sponsors of Senate Bill 23 chose to shut the bill down without opposition less than an hour before the legislature’s midnight deadline to conclude operations. The decision came…
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Lawmakers pass ‘fund the police’ bill with $30.5 million in grants for Colorado law enforcement
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The Colorado legislature approved a bipartisan proposal Tuesday to fund $30.5 million in grant programs for state law enforcement, sending the measure to the governor for final consideration. If signed into law, Senate Bill 145 would establish three grant programs to fund prevention and crisis intervention in high-crime areas; law enforcement recruitment, retention, tuition and…
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Colorado Senate passes fentanyl bill, sets felony threshold at 1 gram
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The Senate Friday, on bipartisan lines, approved a sweeping measure that seeks to confront Colorado’s fentanyl crisis by making it a felony to possess 1 gram of an illicit substance that contains the deadly drug. The full Senate approved House Bill 1326 on a 24-8 vote, a day after the chamber decided that prosecutors shouldn’t have…
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Senate advances fentanyl bill, adopts law enforcement’s key request on felony language
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The Colorado legislature’s struggle on how to deal with fentanyl possession took another turn Thursday, when the state Senate decided that prosecutors shouldn’t have to prove that users knowingly possessed the drug in order to charge them with a felony. The revision is the most significant and far-reaching change to come out of the Senate’s work…
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Law enforcement coalition calls fentanyl bill’s felony provision ‘practically meaningless’
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A coalition of law enforcement groups on Tuesday described state fentanyl legislation’s current felony provision for simple possession as “practically meaningless,” while a group representing district attorneys said that language renders the intended teeth in the legislation “almost useless.” The coalition, composed of the County Sheriffs of Colorado, the Colorado Association of Chiefs of…
