Powerful new reporting by the Colorado News Collaborative (COLab) and news organization partners shines a light on gaps and weaknesses in Colorado’s recent legislative efforts to make law enforcement more transparent and accountable in our state.

Without a doubt, reforms beginning with the 2019 passage of a law that opened many records of completed internal affairs investigations have made it easier for journalists and the public to scrutinize police activities and examine how police discipline themselves.

Before House Bill 19-1119, nearly all police departments and sheriff’s offices in Colorado routinely denied requests for records of officers investigated for allegations of misconduct, either with a blanket policy or a finding that disclosure would be “contrary to the public interest.” Before Senate Bill 20-217 and House Bill 21-1250, agencies could withhold body-worn camera footage indefinitely and there was no way for the public to check an officer’s certification status without combing through agendas and minutes of the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) board or asking POST staff.

But the COLab stories make it clear that additional legislative reforms and agency fixes are needed to adequately ensure police transparency and accountability in Colorado.

The first story in a series called “Undisciplined,” by journalists Susan Greene and Andrew Fraieli, focuses on a searchable public database, maintained by the POST board since the start of 2022. It is supposed to flag problem officers — those who’ve lost their certification, become the subject of a criminal probe, were found to be untruthful, resigned or retired while under investigation, or were fired for cause.
Required by sweeping legislative reforms enacted in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis and Elijah McClain’s death in Aurora, the database is used by agencies and the public to check the backgrounds of officers. But it is “beset with glitches,” as well as inaccuracies and omissions, COLab found, and aside from officer de-certifications, it only includes allegations of misconduct since Jan. 1, 2022. That presents merely a snapshot — nowhere near a complete picture — of officers who have been disciplined or those who quit or were fired while under investigation.

For example, the POST database includes “no information about the involvement of three Aurora police officers in one of the most high-profile excessive force cases in state history” — the 2019 killing of McClain, the story notes. Nor does it include information about a former Denver sheriff’s deputy who resigned from the Boulder police force in 2020 while being investigated for calling for “use-of-force Fridays” on Instagram. It says nothing except “CERTIFIED” about a former Greeley police officer who took a plea deal after being charged for using excessive force. Similarly, it just says “CERTIFIED” about a former Denver police officer who, according to an internal affairs report, “made it known that he had zero regard for human life.”