Law enforcement whistleblower protection bill introduced at Colorado Capitol
DENVER (KDVR) — Lawmakers at the Colorado Capitol will wrap up this year’s session in just a matter of weeks, but even as time winds down, new bills are being introduced.
One new measure looks to expand protections for whistleblowers who report allegations of wrongdoing among fellow officers. It has received some pushback from police groups.
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Lawmakers bringing the bill say they are doing so because police need a way to hold each other accountable for bad behavior. Some police groups are calling the measure unfair.
“Me and a couple of other colleagues essentially wrote the bill based on kind of our stories and what we had seen in Edgewater,” said former police officer McKinzie Rees.
Rees was an officer with the Edgewater Police Department when the unthinkable happened.
“In 2019, I was assaulted by one of my sergeants within the department after a holiday party. I had initially spoke out about it and was not taken seriously, and eventually another officer had to go to the First Judicial District and kind of tell them what happened,” Rees recalled.
FOX31 was there as Rees’ former coworker, Nathan Geerdes, pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact, official misconduct and forgery, but not before Rees was terminated, saying it was retaliation for her speaking out.
“Then, her boss put her in the bad officer database for lying. The person who raped her was actually convicted of the rape recently. He was never put into the bad officer database. She could never be a law enforcement officer again, until this bill,” said state Rep. Leslie Herod.
Herod is a prime sponsor of the measure Rees worked on to make sure other officers do not experience what she did.
Bill aims to prevent retaliation against police whistleblowers
The bill would create a pathway for police to blow the whistle about the misconduct of fellow officers without fear of retaliation. It also calls on law enforcement agencies to investigate the allegations of wrongdoing and hold on to those reports, giving the Attorney General’s Office the power to subpoena and audit records of the police agencies reported to a Colorado Peace Officer Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) database. An officer who fails to make the report commits a class 2 misdemeanor and a person who makes an allegation has a private right of action if the allegation is not investigated.
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Groups like the Colorado Fraternal Order of Police and county sheriffs of Colorado are opposing the measure, saying partially in a statement:
“Together we stand united against the “unprofessional conduct” or “misconduct” of peace officers. This bill, however, unnecessarily singles out one profession – law enforcement – for prosecution, marking the first time any occupation would be subject to criminal penalties for failing to report speculative violations of undefined conduct.”
Stephen Schulz, president of the Colorado Fraternal Order of Police, and Amy J. Nichols, executive director of the County Sheriffs of Colorado
Sponsors said they have tried to work with law enforcement groups to meet in the middle on this, but they have not been successful on that yet.
“I understand that law enforcement agencies are worried that this is going to open them up to a lot of liability. To that I say, investigate these types of reports, stand by these officers who are being harassed. The good ole boys’ club is protecting these officers who are doing harm, has got to stop. That’s what this bill does, it’s a simple bill. It allows for whistleblower protections for those who are doing the right thing,” Herod said.
The bill will be heard in committee on Tuesday.
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