Colorado lawmakers are working on a bill to provide stronger protection for police officers who report misconduct within their own agencies. This comes after a previous, broader reform attempt last year faced opposition and ultimately failed. The new bill, the result of months of negotiations with police chiefs, officers, and sheriffs, focuses specifically on whistleblower protections and is the first in what may be a series of law enforcement reforms.
State Rep. Jennifer Bacon, then vice chair of the Colorado House Judiciary Committee, asks questions to people giving testimony on House Bill 24-1292 in the Old State Library room at the Colorado Capitol in Denver on March 19, 2024. Colorado lawmakers are again seeking to provide more protections for police officers who report misconduct within their own agencies, taking a more compartmentalized approach nearly a year afterThis time around, Democratic Reps.
“This bill protects people who protect us,” Bacon, a Denver Democrat and the House’s assistant majority leader, said in an interview. “It is in the public interest that know they can be a watchdog and that someone has the public’s back.”that she ended up on a state “bad cops list” after she reported a supervising sergeant for sexual assault.
Indeed, Bacon said police whistleblowers who inspired the bill want stronger accountability mechanisms to hold higher-ranking police officials accountable. Arvada Police Chief Ed Brady, part of the leadership of the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, said he had been encouraged by the discussions with legislators and in the working groups, which Clifford said included dozens of people.
The Fraternal Order of Police, which represents rank-and-file officers and was part of the working groups, is backing the whistleblower bill. The group did not return messages seeking comment. Clifford said he, too, understood why lawmakers ran the bill last year after whistleblowers raised concerns about their lack of protection.
WHISTLEBLOWERPROTECTIONS POLICEREFORM COLORADOLEGISLATURE LAWENFORCEMENT RE Taliation
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