Colorado Democrats’ sweeping police accountability bill won preliminary approval Monday in the state Senate after undergoing a number of changes, including the addition of a prohibition on the use of deadly force by officers unless they face an imminent threat.
Currently, officers may use deadly force if they reasonably fear for their lives or the lives of their colleagues and not necessarily if they are facing an imminent threat. The amendment, brought by state Sen. Mike Foote, a Lafayette Democrat, aims to shift the standard under which police can legally use deadly force to an objective standard versus a subjective one.
“This amendment attempts to – and I think will be successful to – change the use of force and the use of deadly force in the state of Colorado and make it easier for those officers that use force in violation (of the law) to be prosecuted,” said Foote, a former prosecutor. “… It will turn out that force will be used less often.”
The change was endorsed by Sen. Bob Gardner, a Colorado Springs Republican, who has been anxious about the breadth of the measure, Senate Bill 217.
The legislation passed by a voice vote and with bipartisan support after Senate Republicans initially opposed the bill. GOP lawmakers lauded policy on Monday, thanking Democrats for incorporating their proposed changes and nodding to the fact that some in law enforcement may still take issue with sections of the measure.
“When I first looked at the bill, I have to admit I was pretty upset,” said Sen. John Cooke, a Greeley Republican and Weld County’s former sheriff. “It looked to me like it was a revenge or punishment bill. As a matter of fact, that’s what I called it.”
But Cooke said that with the changes made in recent days, he is now on board. “I’m here to say I support the bill,” he said, adding that he believes law enforcement will also back the measure.
There was no opposition to the measure when the voice vote was called Monday.
Another amendment added to SB 217 on Monday prohibits officers from using tear gas on protesters without warning and from firing less-lethal projectiles indiscriminately at demonstrators’ heads, pelvises or backs.
That change comes after a federal judge on Friday ordered Denver police to temporarily cease using less-lethal force against peaceful protesters and stop using tear gas and pepper spray without warning. Judge R. Brooke Jackson also ordered officers not to fire less-lethal projectiles at demonstrators’ heads, pelvises or backs.
SB 217 must receive one more vote in the Senate before it can head to the Colorado House for further debate. The legislation comes amid 12 consecutive days of protests in Denver in response to the death of George Floyd last month at the hands of police officers in Minnesota.
The bill was introduced Wednesday and is expected to pass before the end of the week.
In total there were 12 amendments made to the measure on Monday. Other changes reduce the amount of data law enforcement must collect during interactions with the public and add privacy protections for people recorded by police body cameras when that footage is released.
One major alteration gives law enforcement agencies until 2023 to comply with a requirement in the measure that all police departments and sheriff’s offices outfit their officers with body cameras.
SB 217 also requires officers to intervene when their colleagues use inappropriate force, bans the use of chokeholds and opens up officers to be sued in their individual capacities when they act inappropriately.
Finally, the legislation makes it so that law enforcement cannot use deadly force to stop a person they suspect has used a weapon in a crime or is armed – called the “fleeing felon rule” – unless there is an imminent threat of the person using the weapon as part of their escape.
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