State Rep. Angela Williams said she is taking a strong look at how Arizona handles police hiring as she starts drafting legislation aimed at reducing cases of second-chance police officers in Colorado.
“I’m not trying to tell our agencies who they should and shouldn’t hire,” Williams said. “I just want to give them the tools they need to make good hiring decisions, and I want to close the loopholes.”
Williams, a Denver Democrat, helped pass six police reform bills through the legislature that were signed into law early this year. She said she plans to sponsor legislation early next year that would overhaul how Colorado handles law enforcement hiring.
“We’re finding that bad apples are getting passed from police agency to police agency,” Williams added. “How do we allow those doing the hiring to get into those files and understand if there is gross misconduct or any misconduct?”
In Arizona, to contact all past employers, review past police personnel records and do lie-detector tests in addition to criminal background checks before making hires. State officials there also audit local agencies to make sure they are taking those steps along with other state requirements before hiring an officer.
In Colorado, the law leaves the breadth of such background investigations largely up to local authorities.
“We need a uniform law across the state,” Williams said, regarding background investigation requirements for police hiring.
The board that oversees police certification in Colorado on Monday , including adoption of a new rule urging, but not requiring, agencies to conduct comprehensive background investigations before hiring applicants.
The Colorado Peace Officers Standards and Training board also moved to close a loophole that allows some officers to work despite felony guilty pleas on their records. And the board amended its rules to require more frequent psychological and physical evaluations of officers when they transfer to new law enforcement agencies.
Williams said she is contemplating pushing additional changes that would make past internal affairs records transparent when officers seek to transfer to a new agency.
Smaller police departments in rural agencies say they have trouble finding qualified candidates. Williams said she plans eventually to look at recruitment policies — perhaps in the 2017 legislative session — to help address complaints of a scarcity of qualified applicants.
A series of articles in The Denver Post has reported on officers with troubled pasts who moved from department to department and from other states. The Post found have laws that make it easier than Colorado’s statute to revoke law enforcement officer certification. Most states allow decertification for personnel transgressions or misconduct, but in Colorado a conviction for a felony or certain misdemeanors is required.
Williams said she was disturbed by , who landed a job with the Trinidad Police Department despite a guilty plea on felony fraud in New Mexico.
Yachik served 18 months probation before a judge adjudicated his case with no finding of guilt through a deferred judgment. Yachik was later hired at the Berthoud Police Department but lost his job due to allegations of child abuse that eventually led to his conviction.
Yachik, who remains certified for police work, now faces charges of sexually assaulting a minor and of domestic violence.
“He is the poster child of what we are trying to prevent,” Williams said.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747, cosher@denverpost.com or @chrisosher
