11 minute read
Wednesday, Feb. 9: Je Baker, District
The Englewood Police Department is still accepting applications for residents interested in participating in the 2022 Englewood Police Academy.
The Academy is comprehensive in scope and covers many different areas of operation such as: • Crime Scene/Forensic Science • Code Enforcement Overview • Criminal Investigation • Shooting Simulation • Distracted Driving • Patrol Procedures • SWAT Overview • Fire Inspectors • Traffi c • Drugs
The classes will be every Wednesday between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Englewood Police Department. The academy starts on Wednesday, March 2 and runs until Wednesday, April 27.
For more information visit bit. ly/3qgqzEl and apply by Feb. 18.
Preschool signups now open for Englewood Schools
Englewood Schools is now enrolling grades PreK-12 for 2022-2023. Watch your child thrive in a small district with big opportunities. We offer personalized, engaging education based on each child’s unique needs. Spaces are fi lling up! Learn more here: englewoodschools.net/ our-district/enroll.
Ride the free Englewood Trolley
Englewood’s free trolley transports riders to 19 stops connecting CityCenter Englewood, businesses in downtown Englewood and the medical facilities in and near Craig Hospital and Swedish Medical Center. Grab a warm drink at Nixon’s Coffee House, have lunch at One Barrel and grab some goodies at Grow + Gather.
View the route at englewoodco. gov/trolley. Wednesday, Feb. 16 from 5-7 p.m. at the Englewood Civic Center, thirdfl oor lobby (1000 Englewood Parkway).
Donate winter gear through Feb. 14
Due to the recent cold weather, there is an urgent need for new and used winter gear for unhoused neighbors. The City of Englewood will be collecting winter gear through Feb. 14.
Bring items, including coats, gloves, tarps and sleeping bags, to one of the drop-off locations. • Civic Center, 1000 Englewood Parkway, Third Floor • Malley Recreation Center, 3380 S. Lincoln St. • Englewood Recreation Center, 1155 W. Oxford Ave. • Broken Tee Golf Course, 2101 W. Oxford Ave.
Annual City of Englewood Utilities Survey
The City of Englewood is making a concerted effort to improve the drinking water for the citizens of Englewood. As a part of this effort, the city announced on Facebook that it would like to get customer feedback about the drinking water today.
Residents will receive the 2022 Annual Utilities Department Survey in the next utility bill. The survey can be completed online at englewoodco. gov/utilities-survey, or complete the paper copy included in your February bill and drop it off at one of the following locations: • Malley Recreation Center, 3380 S. Lincoln St. • Englewood Recreation Center, 1155 W. Oxford Ave. • Englewood Municipal Court, 1000 Englewood Parkway, Second Floor • City of Englewood Offi ces, 1000 Englewood Parkway, Third Floor
The survey should take between 3-5 minutes and all responses are appreciated.
Take the online survey at: englewoodco.gov/utilities-survey.
Looking Ahead 2022
Join us for a series of virtual town hall meetings in February. Each Commissioner will highlight projects and initiatives, as well as provide updates on the formation of the new Arapahoe County health department. Learn what’s on tap for the County, and each district, during 2022. All meetings start at 6:30 p.m. Visit arapahoegov.com/townhall for details.
Upcoming dates: • Wednesday, Feb. 9: Je Baker, District 3 • Wednesday, Feb. 23: Carrie Warren-Gully, District 1 • Thursday, Feb. 24: Bill Holen, District 5
Don't let County news and events pass you by! Get the County Line sent to your inbox every Friday and stay informed about how we’re serving our residents and always trying to support and improve Arapahoe County’s quality of life.
Sign up at www.arapahoegov.com/ newsletter or scan the QR code with your smartphone.
Arapahoe County is always hiring. A full listing of open positions are available on arapahoegov.com/jobs or scan the QR code with your smartphone.
Lone Tree Police has fi red two o cers
BY ALLISON SHERRY COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO
Three years ago, state lawmakers tried to signifi cantly boost the penalty for law enforcement offi cers who are untruthful on the job: Not only would they be fi red, they were supposed to lose their license too.
But a year and a half after the bill was implemented, two of the state’s largest police departments haven’t been routinely reporting untruthful offi cers to state offi cials.
That’s because those departments use a lower standard to decide whether an offi cer should be fi red than the state requires for decertifying an offi cer. The result: those offi cers are free to go seek other jobs — even if their previous employer fi nds them to be untruthful.
Since the state law requiring that offi cers get licenses stripped for untruthfulness was implemented in 2020, the Denver Police Department has not reported any offi cers to the Peace Offi cers Standards and Training, or POST, board for license revocation for this infraction.
Aurora has reported one o cer in the last 18 months.
Both agencies have a lower standard of proof for fi ring people, so those offi cers were usually terminated, but the agencies have not
After a bill passed IN 2020 to hold police o cers accountable for lying, records show various departments apply rules
di erently. SHUTTERSTOCK
regularly gone beyond that to report the offenses to the POST board to get the offi cers’ licenses revoked.
Just two weeks ago, Denver Police changed this standard and now, moving forward, if an investigation found “clear and convincing” evidence that an offi cer had been untruthful, he would get reported to the POST board for license revocation.
Within the Aurora Police Department, Detective Matthew Longshore said the department’s policy has always been to fi re offi cers who were untruthful. In fact, Aurora Police offi cials have, in the last year, released press releases every time they fi re an offi cer.
After an offi cer is terminated for untruthfulness, Longshore said that the department continues to investigate whether the infraction merited a report to the POST board for revocation.
But since the law took effect, only one offi cer met the “clear and convincing” standard and was reported to state offi cials for license revocation. That offi cer, Robert Lyons, was fi red last year for cheating on his time card and skipping out early on his shift, according to his APD disciplinary record.
How to determine a standard of truth (and untruth)
Lawrence Pacheco, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s offi ce, said that the POST board operates with the authority it has in statute.
“The untruthfulness statute relies heavily on the agencies to perform their own due diligence before POST gets involved in decertifi cation. POST has to rely on the agency’s investigation, fi ndings, and reporting,” he said.
This means, depending on where an offi cer works, they could face varying consequences for being untruthful on the job — from termination to license revocation. The Lone Tree Police Department, for example, with 53 sworn offi cers, has reported two offi cers for untruthfulness since the implementation of the law.
This is something even law enforcement offi cers say contradicts the spirit of the law.
“If Denver is fi ring people for a lesser standard than would get them decertifi ed, I would applaud that,” said Michael Phibbs, chief of the Auraria Campus Police Department, who helped write the legislation to try and root out troublesome offi cers. “Letting someone go at a preponderance standard doesn’t bother me, but if they’re saying that’s it … that’s a problem.”
Democratic state Rep. Dylan Roberts, who carried the legislation in the state House of Representatives, said he was unaware some agencies were employing a different standard than state law requires, but he encouraged the Peace Offi cer Standards and Training board to spread the word to every police department about what the rules are.
“If law enforcement or POST needs clarifi cation or assistance from us, I think people on both sides of the aisle would be ready to help,” Roberts said.
James Karbach, director of legislative policy at the state public defender’s offi ce, acknowledges that determining untruthfulness among law enforcement offi cers is an act of nuance.
“The question is whether all police departments are in good faith trying to fi gure out when they should and must report or is there a game being played to delay or avoid reporting to protect dishonest cops?” Karbach said. “The fact that several smaller agencies have reported dishonest acts by offi cers who the POST board then decertifi ed, while other large departments with the most offi cers, like Aurora and Denver, have not had any offi cers decertifi ed, does not square. ”
How many o cers have lost their licenses for being untruthful on the job so far
The POST board released a database earlier this month listing all the law enforcement offi cers who have been decertifi ed since the 1970s. That includes offi cers convicted of certain misdemeanors and any felony. Some of the infractions are for on-duty conduct and some are not.
Since 2020, 25 offi cers have lost their licenses for being untruthful on the job. This means they lied on a criminal justice record, while testifying under oath, during an internal affairs investigation or during an administrative disciplinary process.
This is out of 39 offi cers total who were decertifi ed since 2020. There are roughly 13,000 sworn offi cers statewide.
The details of those disciplinary actions were not published with the database, but the offi cers’ names and agencies are part of the public record.
Janet Huffor, chief of staff to El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder and a spokeswoman for the County Sheriffs of Colorado, said the goal of law enforcement is to weed out the “bad actors.”
Since 2020, three El Paso deputies have lost licenses for untruthfulness.
“You’re always taught from the very beginning, you know, you can make it through anything except lying. It’s totally unacceptable in law enforcement,” Huffor said. “You know what? Cops make mistakes. They may not follow policy to a tee, but the one thing that’s reinforced is never lie about it. Ever.”
In El Paso County, deputies use the “clear and convincing” standard for determining whether an offi cer lied on the job. So does the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Offi ce.
Because there are no union contracts within sheriffs departments across the state, the deputies are at-will employees and can be terminated at any time, Huffor said.
Same goes for Lone Tree Police. That agency, with 53 sworn offi cers, has terminated two offi cers in the last two years for untruthfulness — both cases were referred to the POST board for license revocation.
“The whole goal of this is to make sure we’re weeding out the ones who shouldn’t be in law enforcement. We’ve done enough to tarnish our reputation,” said Lone Tree Police Commander Ron Pinson. “That’s my whole life right now is hiring good offi cers and making sure that we’re not bringing in people who shouldn’t be there.”
Pinson said he was disappointed that some agencies have not reported offi cers found to have been untruthful to the POST board.
“I would hope they weren’t doing that to avoid getting rid of bad offi cers,” he said.
More consequences and transparency than there used to be, but not all details are public
The Littleton Symphony Orchestra
presents
The Butterfly Lovers Concerto
with Guest Conductor, David Brussel and violinist Yi Zhao Wednesday, February 16 & Friday, February 18, 2022 7:30 PM
Littleton United Methodist Church 5894 S. Datura Street
Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov: Procession of the Sardar from Caucasian Sketches He Zhan-hao and Chen Gang: The Butterfl y Lovers Violin Concerto Maurice Ravel: Mother Goose Suite
