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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCITIZEN REVIEW BOARD - MINUTES - 09/10/2025 Citizen Review Board REGULAR MEETING August 13, 2025 – 5:30 PM 222 Laporte Ave, Colorado River Room (Main Floor) 1. CALL TO ORDER a. Called to order at 5:31 PM by Shamera Loose 2. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present: Shamera Loose, Mike O’Malley, Melissa Rosas, Veronica Olivas, Amy Hoeven, Michael Ruttenberg, Valerie Krier (virtually attending) b. Staff Members Present: Lieutenant Jackie Pearson, Jessica Jones c. Council Liaison: Councilmember Susan Gutowsky 3. AGENDA REVIEW 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION a. Public Input – 5 minutes per individual: None 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. July 9, 2025: Correction Sara Arfmann’s last name in the roll call. Motion to approve by Mike O’Malley, which was seconded by Amy Hoeven. Motion passed. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 7. NEW BUSINESS a. Voicemail: 2 voicemails; 1 from George Hager and 1 from Jason Carpenter b. E-mail: 9 emails from Antonio Vigil, Jr. c. Training: Firearms with Off. Tracy and Sgt. Wood Officers are trained on legality, defensive force, and gaining control to stabilizing an unstable situation. They are required under CALEA to review policies and laws. Force should be legal, responsible, and appropriate. It is defined broadly, because it is impossible to predict every scenario. Board Member Question: Do officers own their own guns or are they department-issued? Recently a jury in Cambridge said that the SIG-P320 is a defective weapon? There has been a lot of press recently about certain models of guns. FCPS does not use it, nor does any agency in the area use it. FCPS wants officers to consider what is legal, reasonable, and appropriate. Focus is placed on a transitional thought process for escalation vs. de-escalation. If an officer draws there gun and challenges someone, de-escalation will become necessary, at some point. Firearms training isn’t just about shooting, but about thought processes. There should be a constant evaluation of tactics, communication, force effectiveness and whether to engage or disengage. Board Member Question: Does it happen often that officers experience language barriers when interacting with people? What about people who are mentally disabled? It doesn’t happen often, but there are instances of it. Officers have an interpreter service and are trained to recognize people who may be neurodivergent. Officers approach situations far more carefully than they used to. Board Member Question: Can you tell us more about what happens if someone gets pulled over with a blue card? Does it have any indication of what that person may need? Yes; it is a service that FCPS offers. Usually it is a loved one or caregiver who opts in to the program, and they are given a blue envelope, where they can place car registration, driver’s license, etc. When an officer receives it, it is an indication that the person is being cooperative but may have a different style of communicating. It is designed to be a self-disclosure, so it can contain anything that the person thinks the officer may need to know. Board Member Question: I’ve heard of officers having translation tools on their body; does FCPS have that? No, not in FCPS. Other departments may have access to those tools. It is important to keep in mind that many of scenarios happen very quickly, so there may not be time for translation or discussion. The state has required standards that FCPS bases their training off of. Officers complete force- on-force training with firearms and without, along with live-fire decision-making training. Situations are simulated to present stress, in order to get officers accustomed to it. Trainers expect them to make mistakes and then walk them through it to examine what went wrong. Board Member Question: Are the required hours all for handguns? Yes, there is an additional 40 hour requirement for rifles. Board Member Question: How is Less Lethal training factored in? They do quarterly trainings, and laser training is integrated into Firearms training. Every officer is issued a handgun; the new cadets get rifles with red dots mounted on them, which allows for shooting with both eyes open, allowing them to keep their eye on the target. Suppressors are used strictly for the health and safety of the officers. Rifles are very loud and it is important to protect hearing. Board Member Question: Do they test regularly for lead in the blood? Officers are tested annually for both lead and hearing damage. Board Member Question: Are officers allowed to use their personally owned guns? The department furnishes each officer with one handgun, which they are required to carry while they are on duty and in uniform; however, they are allowed to use a personally owned handgun, that may be smaller or more lightweight, when they are in plainclothes or on an off-duty assignment. Sometimes different guns are preferred because of the way that they fit in people’s hands. Board Member Question: Do the same rules apply if the personally owned gun misfires on an off-duty assignment? Only if the officer is taking police action. If an officer injures another person, that will fall under CIRT. Officers have to comply with FCPS Policy 312. When they are off-duty, there is a variety of guns they can use; however, every officer has to qualify for a rifle. FCPS Training Philosophy is to “elevate thought, improve judgement, and act with purpose. Board Member Question: You have both an indoor and an outdoor shooting range? That’s correct. The outdoor shooting range is borrowed, from a third party vendor, which is called Great Guns. They reserve areas for law enforcement. Board Member Question: Do you practice in other spaces, like in schools? Yes, every July, FCPS conducts active shooter training, and they almost always use empty schools, which offer complex layouts and also allows the officers to get familiar with the building. Board Member Question: Are there other places that you’d like to practice at? The SWAT team did a live-force portion in Loveland one time that officers would love to do again. They used a lab business that had closed down, and it was perfect because it had an odd floorplan and they were able to practice a simulated work incident. Board Member Question: Do you work with PFA to use any of their buildings? FCPS has in the past. They have a Firehouse and the Vine Training Center has been used for other trainings. FCPS also does rescue task forces with PFA, to practice how everyone’s efforts come together. Board Member Question: Some years ago, FCPS was trying to get panoramic cameras for the schools; did that ever pan out? During COVID, they created a response plan that contains the layouts of all the schools, which are labeled with numbers and diagrams. Officers are dispatched with that plan, which marks staging areas, areas for media, casualty checkpoints, and areas for bussing kids out. Board Member Question: Are you allowed to carry back up weapons? They are, but not many do. Board Member Question: Do you ever have people drop out of training? Yes, FCPS has had a cadet drop out, but it isn’t common. Part of the purpose of the training is to mentally prepare them. FCPS has had to remove cadets because they did not have the skills or ability to process information that was needed, but that is because of FCPS’s high standards. 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS a. Veronica Olivas signed up for the Emergency Services Exploration Series with the Larimer County Sheriffs. Additionally, she attended a Fentanyl Awareness class in July.