Cross your fingers, because there’s no telling how long this legislative aisle-crossing will last. But consider: Of 10 major bills having to do with police procedures and transparency in Colorado that have been introduced in recent days, seven have bipartisan sponsorship.
Five of them are even co-sponsored by former Weld County Sheriff and now Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley, a staunch defender of the reputation of police.
What is equally important, the bills are mostly substantive rather than empty gestures attempting to defuse citizen anxiety about incidents of questionable police behavior.
That’s not to say we like all of the bills. We’re not persuaded, for example, that measures broadening the definition of profiling and boosting the power of judges to second-guess district attorneys are necessary. But the bipartisan efforts appear worth approving, with some modest tinkering here and there.
Among the most deserving:
• A bill reducing the likelihood of a bad-apple cop resigning quietly from one department and getting a job with another agency unaware of his record. It requires that records of misconduct be made available to the hiring police agency — something that isn’t standard policy, believe it or not.
• A bill that ensures outside review by a multi-agency team, or simply another agency, of a police shooting. It also requires that district attorneys who decline to file charges in such cases disclose their reasons.
• A bill to collect data on police shootings over 10 years, beginning in 2010, so the statistics can be analyzed to see to what extent there is a problem in the use of firearms.
Other bills that add protections include one barring police from seizing a citizen’s recording without permission or a warrant. The public already enjoys the right to record encounters with police in most instances, but this bill would put that right into law. However, the bill may need an exemption for seizures on rare occasions when police have legitimate reason to believe the evidence would be destroyed or a recording is interfering with an ongoing criminal investigation.
Another bipartisan bill says a court may order law enforcement to reimburse a citizen for legal fees when charges were filed based on the violation of an unlawful police order. That’s not a common occurrence, but it’s a valid concern for citizens without substantial resources.
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