SB 26-190

Senate Bill 26-190, which has been signed into law, requires that video and audio recordings of incidents where a peace officer's use of force results in death be provided to the victim’s family. The bill also mandates that these recordings are made public after being given to the family. Additionally, it sets deadlines for informing families about investigations and restricts officers from making statements that could prejudice ongoing legal proceedings related to such incidents. This law affects peace officers and the families of victims involved in use-of-force incidents. Since the bill has been signed, its provisions will now be enforced in Colorado.

Official Summary

Under existing law, all video and audio recordings (recordings) depicting an incident of peace officer misconduct that resulted in death must be provided upon request to the victim's family. The bill clarifies that the recordings depicting an incident of a peace officer's use of force that resulted in death (incident) must be provided to the victim's family regardless of whether there is a complaint of peace officer misconduct for the incident. The bill clarifies what constitutes the incident for the purpose of releasing recordings to the victim's family. The bill requires publicly releasing incident recordings after they are released to the victim's family.     The bill sets deadlines for the victim's family to be informed about a multi-agency team investigation into an incident.      The bill prohibits a peace officer participating in the investigation of a criminal matter involving an incident from making an extrajudicial statement on behalf of a law enforcement agency that the peace officer knows or reasonably should know will be disseminated by means of public communication and will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding on the matter. Video of an incident produced for purposes of a community or critical incident briefing must include certain disclaimers, and narration or commentary must be limited to the facts of the incident.(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

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