As Nation Rethinks Policing, Colorado Offers Blueprint Toward Reform
January 12, 2023
When it comes to states that are committed to justice reform, Colorado is leading the way in adapting their police policies.
“There's no other state legislature in this country that has been able to do what Colorado has done to date. It just hasn't happened,” said Howard Henderson, founding director of the Center for Justice Research and a professor of justice administration at Texas Southern University.
When Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 217 into law last year, the state became ground zero for police reform, Henderson says, and offered other states a model. The new law ticks multiple boxes: “body-worn cameras, use of force, duty to intervene, firing police officers, qualified immunity, police prosecutions, protester protections and data tracking all in one bill.”