DENVER – The Colorado House on Friday gave initial approval to two measures that aim to “rebuild trust” with law enforcement after a national outcry.
House Bill 1286 would allow a judge to require prosecution in cases of serious police misconduct if the judge finds that the decision not to prosecute was an abuse of discretion or was based on an arbitrary decision without a reasonable excuse.
House Bill 1291 would ban the use of chokeholds by police. But it was amended heavily to allow officers to use the dangerous technique in self-defense.
Both bills must receive a final vote in the House before heading to the Senate for hearings.
The bills come amid outcries and national turmoil after incidents in Ferguson, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York, where grand juries did not indict white police officers in the deaths of unarmed black men.
There are eight other measures moving through the legislative process that also are part of a reform package, including underscoring a citizens’ right to record police incidents, requiring a judge to dismiss charges based on an unlawful order, collecting data from officer-involved shootings, encouraging the use of body cameras by police, expanding the state’s profiling statute and bolstering law enforcement training efforts, among others.
Of the two measures that got initial approval in the House on Friday, only the special prosecutor measure saw controversy. Some believe it sends the wrong message about prosecutors.
“The district attorneys are not the police department,” said Rep. Tim Dore, R-Elizabeth, who opposed the bill. “Their job is not to cover for the police department. They are actually offended at the idea that we think that’s what they do.”
During a committee hearing about the measure, district attorneys spoke against the measure, defending their ability to look objectively at all cases, including those involving an officer-involved shooting.
Tom Raynes, executive director of the Colorado District Attorneys Council, went to great lengths to point out that prosecutors often don’t even get along with police officials within their district.
But Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton, a co-sponsor of the legislation, highlighted the fact that very few cases of police misconduct are prosecuted.
In most instances, even when the department acknowledges wrongdoing, victims of brutality usually receive a cash settlement rather than watch the officers face charges.
“What this bill does is it changes the calculus a little bit,” Salazar said. “What we’re saying is there is only one standard in this, which is abuse of discretion.”
Rep. Daniel Kagan, D-Cherry Hills Village, the other sponsor of the bill, added, “When police shootings take place, it is different to any other act that is potentially prosecutable. There are unusual pressures on prosecutors that are not present in other cases.”
With the amendment to the chokehold bill, lawmakers generally were supportive.
“This is a bill that is part of the rebuilding trust between the community and law enforcement,” said Rep. Angela Williams, D-Denver. “We’ve seen a lot of situations across the country where chokeholds have been used inappropriately.”
pmarcus@durangoherald.com
