{"id":12285,"date":"2026-03-12T16:29:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T22:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/no-secret-police-group-gathers-enough-signatures-to-advance-anti-mask-initiative\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:32:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:32:42","slug":"no-secret-police-group-gathers-enough-signatures-to-advance-anti-mask-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/no-secret-police-group-gathers-enough-signatures-to-advance-anti-mask-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018No Secret Police\u2019 group gathers enough signatures to advance anti-mask initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Mick
Mick Souder, a No Secret Police organizer, explains a petition banning federal law enforcement from wearing masks in Durango as Billy Beyhan, a durango resident, signs the petition on March 3. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Durango\u2019s No Secret Police committee has gathered enough signatures to send a proposed ordinance banning law enforcement officers from wearing masks to City Council.<\/p>\n

The committee had 30 days to gather 1,047 valid signatures \u2013 15% of all votes cast in the last municipal election \u2013 from registered electors in Durango by March 6 to advance its proposal.<\/p>\n

City spokesman Tom Sluis said the committee returned 84 petitions by the deadline, and the city clerk\u2019s office stopped counting signatures after verifying the group surpassed its benchmark with 1,051 signatures from 50 petitions.<\/p>\n

\"Durango\u2019s
Durango\u2019s No Secret Police committee has gathered more than 1,047 signatures \u2013 enough to send a proposed ordinance banning law enforcement from wearing masks to Durango City Council. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Mick Souder, a committee organizer, announced the group\u2019s success in a written statement to The Durango Herald<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe petition committee organizers extend their appreciation to all circulators and signers \u2018for breaking the silence barrier\u2019 in our people-driven No Secret Police in Durango petition drive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sluis said City Council is tentatively scheduled to address the initiative at its April 7 meeting. Council has 30 days from that meeting to either adopt the proposed ordinance or submit it to voters as a ballot measure in a special election.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a good thing,\u201d Mayor Gilda Yazzie said of the committee\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

She said the petitioners put in the effort to gather the necessary signatures to bring up an issue important to them \u2013 representative democracy in action.<\/p>\n

As for what comes next, she said Durango residents must decide whether the proposed ordinance should be passed. That means holding a special election. She said based on her experience, she anticipates the majority of City Council members will agree.<\/p>\n

City Council discussed a draft statement that appeared to disfavor the ordinance<\/a> at its March 2 meeting. But councilors could not reach a consensus on the tone and overall message the statement.<\/p>\n

The draft letter mentioned efforts the city has taken on the subject of immigration in response to many residents\u2019 dissatisfaction with federal immigration enforcement, including the formation of a task force to explore ways the city can better support its immigrant community.<\/p>\n

It also suggested the proposed anti-mask ordinance is \u201clegally vulnerable\u201d and would put the city at \u201csubstantial financial risk\u201d given the Trump administration\u2019s actions toward so-called \u201csanctuary jurisdictions<\/a>\u201d over policies that restrict or prohibit state and local law enforcement from cooperating with federal agencies such as U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement.<\/p>\n

The draft cited the Trump administration\u2019s freeze of $10 billion in federal child care and family assistance to five states, including Colorado, in January.<\/p>\n

The state of Colorado is listed among 12 other states identified by the U.S. Department of Justice as a sanctuary jurisdiction. In May 2025, The Associated Press reported the DOJ briefly identified Durango and La Plata County as sanctuary jurisdictions<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n

Councilor Jessika Loyer said the citizen\u2019s initiative is an important process for residents to bring issues forward and have their voices heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have to carefully evaluate the legal, operational and financial implications,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are potential considerations related to federal funding and city resources that we\u2019ll need to understand clearly.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said it will be important to have a thoughtful and transparent discussion about the impacts of adopting the ordinance as written or holding a special election.<\/p>\n

Souder said he doesn\u2019t anticipate City Council will adopt the ordinance without holding a special election first. Which direction councilors take should become apparent soon enough at the April 7 meeting.<\/p>\n

Other councilors said they also appreciated the No Secret Police committee\u2019s petitioning efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cUniting the voices of concerned citizens is always a good thing for a community,\u201d Councilor Kip Koso said.<\/p>\n

What concerns him, though, is that a similar ordinance in California has been challenged.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am certainly a fan of a national solution to a federal problem (masks on ICE agents) and would prefer that a small town with limited resources is not put in a position to litigate this issue. The feds caused it and the feds should fix it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said he worries about Durango police officers facing felony charges for attempting to enforce any municipal ordinance prohibiting masks on federal officers, and losing federal funding for Durango Transit or the Durango-La Plata County Airport would hurt vulnerable populations.<\/p>\n

Councilor Dave Woodruff said he is glad residents have a process to bring issues that reflect the community\u2019s values to City Council\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

He said he needs to examine the proposed ordinance more closely before he can support adopting it outright versus placing it on a ballot.<\/p>\n

Councilor Shirley Gonzales said she is proud of the committee and its willingness to stand up for its values.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am supportive of the proposed ordinance,\u201d she said. \u201cIt may lead to a loss in federal funding, but I also believe that our moral integrity is at stake.<\/p>\n

She said not supporting the proposed ordinance implies City Council cares \u201cmore about financial considerations than we do about families and children and upholding the constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated City Council has 30 days adapt the proposed ordinance. Council has 30 days to adopt the ordinance.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Durango City Council could adopt proposal banning masked officers or send measure to voters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[950,1020,266,28,904,52,107,994],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-12285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango","tag-durango-city-council","tag-election","tag-headlines","tag-immigration","tag-law-enforcement","tag-laws","tag-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12285"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18620,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12285\/revisions\/18620"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12285"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=12285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}