Updated 8:50 a.m.
Colorado's House has advanced four bills designed to increase public confidence in the police.
Passing by unanimous voice vote on Wednesday was HB16-1264, which "prohibits a peace officer from intentionally using a chokehold against another person. The bill makes a violation a class 1 misdemeanor. The bill makes an exception if the officer believes his or her life is in danger or that he or she or another person is in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury."
Another is HB16-1263: "Under current law, there is a prohibition against profiling by a peace officer. The bill adds to the prohibition by updating the definition of profiling and describing additional prohibited activities related to profiling."
A third allows police agencies, when making hiring decisions, to seek normally-confidential personnel records from other departments. HB16-1262 says, in part, "Each law enforcement agency in the state that interviews a candidate for a peace officer position who has worked at another law enforcement agency or in private security shall require the candidate to execute a waiver. The waiver will allow the candidate's previous law enforcement agency or private security company employers to disclose all files pertaining to the applicant, including internal affairs files, to the interviewing agency and releases the interviewing agency and each law enforcement agency or private security company that employed the candidate from any liability related to the use and disclosure of the files."
The fourth makes it easier to expunge arrest records in cases that don't result in conviction. HB16-1265 "requires a law enforcement agency to file a petition to expunge the arrest record of a person who is arrested as a result of mistaken identity and with no charges filed with the district court in the judicial district where the person was arrested."
The bills go to the Senate after a procedural House vote.
Legislators last year created a grant program to increase police use of body cameras.
