CO Gov Jared Polis Signs Police Reform Bill

By Jeralyn, Section Legislation
Posted on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 08:50:00 AM EST
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Thank you Governor Jared Polis for signing the much needed police reform bill SB20-217 into law.

[I]t includes sweeping changes sought for years by many lawmakers of color. It bans the fleeing felon rule, bans carotid and choke holds, gets rid of qualified immunity [in state lawsuits] for officers who acted unlawfully, requires law enforcement agencies put new use-of-force rules in effect by Sept. 1, requires all officers that interact with the public wear body or dash cameras by 2023, requires body camera video to be released within 45 days in excessive force cases, includes ... a duty for officers to intervene if another is using excessive force, and more.

This is a very sweeping bill that covers a lot of territory. It is available here.
[More..]

The law authorizes civil rights actions to be brought against police in state court and states that police cannot raise qualified immunity as a defense in such cases.

It provides that police may not use tear gas or projectiles on citizens during protests.

It provides for bringing criminal charges against police who fail to intervene in excessive force cases.

As to profiling, it states police must have a legal basis to make a stop and imposes detailed reporting requirements on the police officer/department. Also, police who make such a stop must provide their business card to the stopped person and an instruction sheet on how to file a complaint.

Via Denver's Channel 7 News:

It bans the fleeing felony rule, bans carotid and choke holds, gets rid of qualified immunity for officers who acted unlawfully, require law enforcement agencies put new use-of-force rules in effect by Sept. 1, require all officers that interact with the public wear body or dash cameras by 2023, require body camera video to be released within 45 days in excessive force cases, changes to reporting for grand juries and district attorneys, a duty for officers to intervene if another is using excessive force, and more.

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CO Gov Jared Polis Signs Police Reform Bill | 22 comments (22 topical)

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My LTE published today (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by Repack Rider on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 09:03:41 AM EST

Here it is in its three sentence entirety. (Bold title added by publisher.)

Can official police reports be considered credible?
More and more videos are showing contradictions between official police reports and violent behavior by law-enforcement officers. This leads me to believe that these reports can be fabricated to obscure misconduct.
How long will it be until a defense attorney uses this evidence in court to discredit the testimony of all police officers, on the basis that such testimony has been shown to be unreliable?

Qualified immunity (none / 0) (#2)
by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 10:03:33 AM EST

Removing that for unlawful actions is overdue. Good for the governor.

Explainer for our non-lawyer friends (5.00 / 5) (#5)
by Peter G on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 11:32:49 AM EST

"Qualified immunity" is a defense to civil suits for damages against public officials (such as police officers) where the judge (not the jury) finds (on a pretrial motion) that the alleged misconduct did not, at the time of the act, violate any "clearly established" legal rule, and that a reasonable and well-trained officer should know that. "Clearly established" means that the alleged misconduct closely corresponds factually to the circumstances underlying a prior court case in that jurisdiction (or the Supreme Court) in which that conduct was declared to be illegal. It results in many police abuse lawsuits being dismissed on pretrial motions.


"Reasonable officer"= objective (5.00 / 1) (#15)
by oculus on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 07:54:20 PM EST

standard, not the subjective point of view of defendant public employee.


Nevertheless, courts find it easy to identify (none / 0) (#16)
by Peter G on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 08:56:11 PM EST

circumstances making the case at hand different enough from precedent to justify granting qualified immunity, since in real life no two situations are ever exactly alike.


: You betcha (none / 0) (#19)
by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Sun Jun 21, 2020 at 02:31:24 PM EST

Dumping the victims cash into the fire is not at all like flushing it down the drain. sarc

We need better stun guns, non lethal devices (none / 0) (#3)
by McBain on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 10:12:01 AM EST

It bans the fleeing felon rule, bans carotid and choke holds,

This isn't going to make it easier for police to arrest violent criminals or the mentally ill. The Rayshard Brooks shooting could have been avoided if the officer's tasers had worked during the initial struggle. Seems like we've had the same technology for too long.

Non sequitur (5.00 / 5) (#7)
by Repack Rider on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 02:20:24 PM EST

The Rayshard Brooks shooting could have been avoided if the officer's tasers had worked during the initial struggle.

It does not follow that because one of the four or five weapons he carried failed to operate properly, he gets to shoot a fleeing man in the back and say he was scared for his life.

If the taser didn't work properly, why would the officer be afraid of it? Why didn't he do the prudent thing and retreat?

BROOKS DID NOT SHOOT HIMSELF IN THE BACK. He did not kick and stand on his own dying body.

Quit blaming everything else except the guy who pulled the trigger.


Lives could be saved if we had better (2.00 / 1) (#11)
by McBain on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 05:52:02 PM EST

technology. Abdul points out this isn't an easy fix.

From your response to sarcastic...

Why is it necessary to blame a victim for somebody else pulling a trigger?

If that first taser attempt had worked no one would be blaming Brooks or the police. Brooks would likely be alive and charged with a felony. Regardless how you feel about the shooting itself, Brooks is 100% to blame for putting himself in a situation where police needed to make use of force decision.

More to one of your other point, lives could also be saved if we had better, stronger, smarter police. I don't see the CO reform bill changing that either. We need to attract the right people to these jobs.


: More "Just comply" garbage (5.00 / 5) (#18)
by Yman on Sun Jun 21, 2020 at 08:17:08 AM EST

Brooks is 100% to blame for putting himself in a situation where police needed to make use of force decision.
The police are 100% responsible for making the right use of force decision. Your constant, ridiculous attempts to victim blame notwithstanding.

If the taser didn't work properly, (none / 0) (#8)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 03:25:13 PM EST

From my understanding of the incident, the taser that "did not work properly" was the one Rolfe was trying to shoot Brooks with, and not the one Brooks was trying to shoot Rolfe with.

Rolfe is the officer that chased and killed Brooks, and before he drew his handgun he apparently was trying to tase Brooks, but failed because his taser didn't work properly.

afaik, there is no indication that the taser Brooks had taken from the other officer, and tried to shoot Rolfe with, was not working properly.


Help me out (5.00 / 1) (#9)
by Repack Rider on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 03:49:29 PM EST

If you are in fear of the Taser, you know the range. Back off.

Why is unloading live rounds in public with no thought to the background or the life of a guy who was sleeping in his car a better option than just backing up and controlling the situation?

If a Taser is considered a non-lethal weapon, you don't get to claim you were in fear of your life from it.

Why is it necessary to blame a victim for somebody else pulling a trigger?


: Dude, I'm on your side for f's sake. (none / 0) (#10)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 05:41:12 PM EST

Your comment indicated that you were confused about what happened in the incident.

Banning holds around the neck (none / 0) (#4)
by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 11:06:40 AM EST

Will likely lead to more shootings. More effective tasers would be great, but there are inherent limitations on the technology that make a foolproof taser in nearly the same class as unicorns.


My suggestion (5.00 / 3) (#6)
by Repack Rider on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 02:14:42 PM EST

Ask the London Police to send over a rookie female officer to teach American police to take a knife away from a drunk without shooting him, reloading, and shooting him some more.


I remember the controversy (none / 0) (#13)
by McBain on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 06:17:31 PM EST

over the choke hold restrictions that might have contributed to the Rodney King case. The argument was the old fashioned night stick choke hold would prevented the beating.

I don't have the answer. Choke holds are barbaric but, as you pointed out, limiting options for police might lead to more shootings.

So, I'm a little confused as to what the ultimate goal is with the protests and reforms. Are we trying to save lives or is it more of a human rights thing?


People are in the streets (none / 0) (#17)
by Chuck0 on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 09:36:46 PM EST

because they are pi$$ed.

Was that a serious question?


: Some were pizzd (none / 0) (#20)
by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Sun Jun 21, 2020 at 02:33:16 PM EST

Some saw opportunity.

Of course, there are numerous reported incidents (none / 0) (#14)
by oculus on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 07:50:41 PM EST

Of serious injury or death from taser use.


btw (none / 0) (#12)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Sat Jun 20, 2020 at 05:56:24 PM EST

I wonder if the LAPD has been told to be less aggressive?

I witnessed a high speed car chase on the PCH in Malibu today and it looked to me that the 5 or 6 police SUVs were keeping a fair distance behind the SUV they were chasing.

I actually saw the chase twice, as the guy apparently made a u-turn on the PCH and came flying past me for a second time.

Going at least 60-65 in a 45, driving on the wrong side of the road, trying to ditch the cops in a construction site, blowing red lights at full speed, etc.

The cops seemed content to not get too close. Luckily it was early in the AM so there was not a lot of traffic yet.

Cannot find any info on it, I hope is was resolved safely.

Jared Polis (none / 0) (#21)
by RCBadger on Sun Jun 21, 2020 at 03:07:53 PM EST

Wasn't he the one that said that it doesn't matter how many innocent men get expelled in cases of campus rape because expulsion is no big deal and will not affect your life? I don't remember the quote exactly but it was kind of an alternate take on the idea that it's better for 10 guilty men to go free rather than to have 1 innocent man convicted.

: I wish more people believed in the 10/1 philosophy (none / 0) (#22)
by McBain on Mon Jun 22, 2020 at 10:48:43 AM EST