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Police reform

Local, state proposals are positive steps toward improving public relations

There are far too many recent incidents across the country illustrating the systemic problems that too often exist in the relationship between police and the communities they serve.

Most recently, Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Baltimore man, was arrested for unknown reasons, placed into a police van in good health, and, somewhere along his journey to the police station, suffered a life-ending spinal injury. That all of these incidents – from Gray to Michael Brown to Walter Scott to Eric Garner – involved black men losing their lives at the hands of white police officers underscores a significant problem in police relations with their constituents. Setting this right will require a sea change in dynamics that extend beyond policing practices, but adding accountability and training components designed to alleviate the tension is an important first step.

A suite of measures is moving through the Colorado Legislature that aims to address this issue. Included are bills to establish a grant program to encourage local law-enforcement agencies to use body cameras, add civilians to the state’s peace-officer training board, expand data-gathering on officer-related shootings, require prosecutors to make their reports public when they choose not to charge an officer in a shooting, require law-enforcement agencies to disclose to would-be employers any incidents of misrepresentation a former officer may have made and require either a warrant or consent when seizing a citizen’s recording of a police interaction.

These are largely bipartisan bills that aim to provide accountability as well as protection for police officers and residents, while expanding the training regimen to reflect public input. Their intent is admirable, and their effect is likely to be positive. They will not, however, solve the underlying issues affecting misapplication of justice – particularly among people of color, but they may be an important incremental adjustment toward that end. The Legislature should continue moving the measures through the process and on to Gov. John Hickenlooper for enactment.

Local law-enforcement agencies are exploring the use of body cameras to record interactions between officers and residents. With the likely passage of House Bill 1285, which would establish a grant program to make the cameras more readily available, Durango Police, La Plata County Sheriff’s Office and Colorado State Patrol could make use of the new technology, and each department is exploring how to implement it.

As Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, said in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the measure, “It shows what the officer sees, and it can provide a good insight into how they go about their business. These days, with all the incidents we’ve seen, that’s becoming more important.”

She is correct and for many reasons, not least among them could be the opportunity for the cameras to serve as a mirror for law enforcement. The subtle or overt influences of race, power, fear and prejudice inform behaviors far and wide – not just interactions between police and suspects. With a closer eye on those behaviors, embodied in cameras and policies, law enforcement can work toward unwinding its role in the conflagration. There is much work to be done beyond these reforms, but that should not preclude their passage.



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