Given the substantial power vested in peace officers throughout Colorado, it behooves the agencies hiring those officers to fully understand candidates’ past experiences and behavior. A bill moving through the Legislature would expand that capacity, requiring law enforcement agencies hiring new police officers to seek and review personnel and internal affairs files from any law enforcement agency that previously employed a candidate – and would protect those past employers from liability in releasing the files. Doing so would greatly expand agencies’ understanding of a candidate’s history and can serve to prevent empowering individuals not suited for police work and the authority it holds.
House Bill 1262, a bipartisan effort sponsored by Rep. Angela Williams, D-Denver, and Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley, would allow law enforcement agencies to cast a broader net in their background inquiries for job applicants. Currently, employment files are off limits to potential employers, leaving just convictions available for review. The measure, which passed the House this week, would require job applicants to sign a waiver allowing their potential employers to request personnel information from law enforcement and other government agencies, and ensure that those agencies that provide the information are not subject to recourse from the past employee.
While the expanded access to officers’ past behaviors constitutes somewhat of a privacy breach, it is an appropriate trade-off given the potential for police officers to abuse their positions. However infrequently such incidents occur, the power imbalance between officers and the citizens they are charged to serve and protect is sufficiently significant as to warrant extra precautions. If a candidate has a history of pushing the boundaries of professional behavior, the hiring agency protects itself and those it serves by considering that background in making community protection decisions.
At the same time, the expanded access to employment records and the information it yields should not be used to single-handedly disqualify candidates who may have made a misstep in their past but taken meaningful measures to address and remedy the problem. Instead, the information would be best used to consider whether candidates have a pattern of bad behavior that might indicate future problems. That is the bill’s intent and, if it is enacted, should be implemented accordingly.
House Bill 1262 would also allow the state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Board to deny certification to an officer for any deferred judgment or deferred prosecution she might carry on her record. Right now, the POST board can only decline to certify otherwise qualified officers if they have an actual felony on their records. While the POST board would not be compelled to refuse certification to someone with a deferred arrangement, it is appropriate to allow the board the flexibility to consider a broader set of data when reviewing an officer’s application for certification.
The problems that have provoked House Bill 1262 are relatively few but demonstrative of the due diligence law enforcement agencies and certifying boards must be allowed to deploy when hiring officers. It should not be used to dismiss candidates out-of-hand, but rather to gain a more complete picture of how he or she would serve and protect the public.
