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Home My WebLink AboutCITIZEN REVIEW BOARD - MINUTES - 10/09/2024CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING Wednesday, October 9, 2024, at 5:30 PM 222 Laporte Ave, Colorado River Room Regular Meeting This information is available in Spanish or other languages at no cost to a person who would like this information translated or communicated in Spanish, or another language. Please call (970)416-4254 or titlesix@fcgov.com to make a request for information in other languages. Esta información está disponible en español u otro idioma, sin costo para la persona que le gustaria esta información traducida o comunicada en español u otro idioma. Favor llame al (970)416-4254 o a titlesix@fcgov.com para solicitor información en otros idiomas. Auxiliary aids and services are available for persons with disabilities. TTY: please use 711 to call (970)221-6753. 1. CALL TO ORDER: 2. ROLL CALL: a. Board Members Present: Mike O’Malley, Shamera Loose, Melissa Rosas, Elizabeth Grant, Veronica Olivas b. Board Members Absent: Michael Ruttenberg (excused), Amy Hoeven (excused) c. Staff Members Present: Sergeant Kim Cochran, Sergeant Paul Wood, Assistant City Attorney Sara Arfmann, Jessica Jones 3. AGENDA REVIEW 4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION a. Public Input – • Bill King, resident of Fort Collins and retired law enforcement officer attended the meeting to observe. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: a. September 11, 2024: Elizabeth Grant moved to approve the September minutes, which was seconded by Melissa Rosas. Motion passed. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Voicemail: None CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING b. E-mail: 1 • Email from Mr. Flowers inquiring about board membership requirements for city employees. Jessica responded to provide resources from the Boards and Commissions Manual and the City Personnel Policies. c. Training: Firearms Training with Sgt. Paul Wood: The use of force by law enforcement is governed by the fourth, fifth, and fourteenth amendments. The fourteenth amendment applies the Bill of Rights to all states in addition to the federal government. Board Member Question: Are police officers held to the same standard if they are in a different jurisdiction? If a FCPS officer is outside of the city limits and needs to make an arrest, there are limits on what an officer can do that, in regards to crimes they don’t personally witness. In practice, it involves contacting the Sherriff’s office, who will give permission for the arrest. If an officer personally observes a crime, they can make an arrest. The fifth amendment protects citizens from illegal detentions. There is a difference between a contact and being detained. The court determines where the line is between these two things, and it is based on a the perception of a reasonable person. Board Member Question: Do FCPS police officers ever run into Sovereign Citizens? Are they usually armed? Yes, they have, in the past, but they are not usually armed. It is important to be especially careful, because they can be skilled at twisting situations to get an officer to do something wrong. Use of force is used for uncooperative people. Officers have to adjust their tactics, and this includes the use of firearms. The goal of using force is to stabilize the situation. Board Member Question: If an officer becomes aware that a person is being uncooperative because they are mentally ill, what do they do? If a person is completely separated from reality, and doesn’t understand that they are dealing with police officers, then the officers will try to approach the situation differently. Ultimately, and especially if there are other people around that could be hurt, it is the officer’s job to do something about the situation, and that may involve force. In order to use force, officers must attempt to use nonviolent means first, if it is feasible. If life is being threatened, officers are allowed to skip this step to address the situation quickly. The Supreme Court case, Graham v. Connor, states that police officers’ use of CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING force must be objectively reasonable, instead of subjectively reasonable, because not every person would make the same decision as a police officer. Board Member Question: What if a person has a farm, and another person comes onto their property and is slaughtering their sheep, for example? Can a person use deadly force to protect property? No, deadly force cannot be used to prevent theft or damage of property. It is different if someone is actually breaking into a house, but not for trespass and damage to property. The average person can pull a trigger an average of 5 times in 1 second; well-practiced officers can pull a trigger more. Memory is one of the least reliable things, and it is important to remember when the board reviews a case, that while they can analyze what happened, frame by frame, that that is not how memory or the human brain works, so that may not be what the officer remembers. Board Member Question: How many times are officers allowed to fire their weapon? Until the threat is no longer a threat. This can include a time of delay, because it takes a few seconds for an officer to register that the threat is down. Officers aren’t allowed to view body cam footage before they are interviewed in a use of force case, but do afterwards, and are allowed to give additional feedback, if they have anything to add. Board Member Question: Has there been any research done into looking into possibilities for weapons technology? Yes. Taser is probably on the frontlines of developing this technology; already, tasers give officers the ability to reach a suspect at 25 feet. The problem is that 25 feet is the approximate distance that a person can charge before their target has time to react. Officers don’t want to use their guns, so they will often move closer, in order to use their tasers and get into a deadly force scenario. In the Police Academy, students train for 8 hours a day, for a total of 10 days, with a half day on safety and then firearms training. Then they spend a day on firearms logistics, which involves how to get the gun out of the holster, and how to accurately hit a target. After that, they review use of force and scenario-based trainings, and review position trainings, live-fire scenarios, multiple office scenarios, etc. Board Member Question: Are officers issued a gun? Yes, every officer at FCPS is issued their own gun. Board Member Question: Does anyone ever fail the academy? CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING Yes. It doesn’t happen very often, but occasionally, FCPS has people who are unable to process a chain of events as quickly as they need to. Board Member Question: How often do officers have to go to the range? 6 times a year. In total, they get about 20-24 hours of training annually. 7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Subcommittee Drawing for PSU2024-031: • Subcommittee Chair: Shamera Loose • Subcommittee Member: Amy Hoeven • Subcommittee Member: Melissa Rosas • Subcommittee Alternate: Elizabeth Grant • Discussion: The case will be ready for the subcommittee to review soon, and it may be possible to meet following the regular meeting in November; however, subcommittee members can wait to decide if that is feasible after they receive the case, and Shamera will confirm afterwards whether another date in November should be selected. b. 2025 Work Plan Review and Discussion: Board members discussed shifting some of the additional trainings to be included in the required trainings, to include the K9 Police training. There is also interest at the next Executive Meet and Greet to learn more about efforts to support to mental health for police officers along with more information about FCPS crime analysts. Shamera will revise the Work Plan to accommodate these changes and provide a draft at the next regular meeting in November for board members to approve. 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS 9. OTHER BUSINESS 10. ADJOURNMENT a. Mike O’Malley moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:01 PM, which was seconded by Elizabeth Grant. Motion passed. Approved by a vote of the board on 11/13/2024