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DENVER \u2013 The first three measures of a package of bills that aim to \u201crebuild trust\u201d between police and communities sailed through a state Senate committee Wednesday.<\/p>\n
All three bills were co-sponsored by Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think of it as bad apples, because a bad apple, we all know, we don\u2019t want the bad apple spoiling the whole bunch,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cWe don\u2019t believe we have a rampant problem, but for those folks who should be in a different career other than law enforcement, we expect the highest level of integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The effort comes amid incidents in Ferguson, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York, where grand juries did not indict white police officers in the deaths of unarmed black men.<\/p>\n
The bills Wednesday had wide consensus in the law-enforcement community, with no opposition lining up to testify against the measures. They passed with unanimous support from the Senate Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n
Seven other police reform measures \u2013 some of which are a bit more high profile \u2013 still are awaiting legislative hearings.<\/p>\n
The steps taken Wednesday included measures that would:<\/p>\n
Allow law-enforcement agencies to access personnel information on an officer who is applying for a job as an officer, including information related to misconduct.<\/p>\n
Require agencies to provide demographic information in officer-involved shooting incidents.<\/p>\n
Direct law-enforcement agencies to develop policies for reviewing officer-involved shootings.<\/p>\n
The measures must still receive final support from the Senate before heading to the House for approval.<\/p>\n
Other bills that are on the way run the gamut, including encouraging the use of body cameras, prohibiting the use of chokeholds, guaranteeing a person\u2019s right to film police incidents and allowing a judge to require a special prosecutor to handle serious officer misconduct cases, among other measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should be called police-transparency bills,\u201d said Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley, a former sheriff who co-sponsored the legislation with Roberts. \u201cThere\u2019s been a big uproar over the nation and in Colorado about law enforcement, but they put their lives on the line every day for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n