Editor and Citizens of Custer County;
While looking through the June 11th, 2020 edition of the [WM] Tribune, I happened to notice in the BOCC meeting notes from June 4th, a couple of points I believe are important to clarify regarding my comments on Senate Bill 20-217. Ms. Jackson made some assertions that were inaccurate at the time of this meeting when I was bringing attention to this pending legislation.
Here is the background on SB 20-217. It was first introduced to the Senate on June 2nd and within the two weeks it took to pass the bill in both the senate and house, there were 140 proposed amendments to the bill. If you are not aware, that is a very high number of changes considering the law was rushed through in a short period of time. When I presented the details of the bill as proposed on June 4th, the County Sheriffs were receiving updates twice a day on the changes to the bill, proposed changes, and what was expected in the coming days. It was very difficult to keep up with those changes and if you referenced that bill at any point, within several hours it had most likely morphed into something different.
Ms. Jackson asserts I misinformed the BOCC in stating the proposed law would require all body camera footage to be made available to the public within 14 days, no matter the content or confidential nature of the footage. At the time I made this statement, this in fact was how the bill was written. It was not until later in the week lobbyists from the County Sheriffs, Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, the Attorney General’s Office, the District Attorney’s Council, and Fraternal Order of Police were able to get language changed to protect victims and citizens from privacy
act violations. [Editor’s note: The final bill changed that time line to 21 days and only if there is suspected abuse.]
Further into the article, Ms. Jackson then highlights my concern over the elimination of Qualified Immunity for officers in the bill. She then goes on to erroneously define Qualified Immunity as if I were concerned about something that was of minimal consequence. I want to iterate how crucial Qualified Immunity is to almost every profession. Qualified Immunity is not a protection offered to Law Enforcement if “a person is harmed or killed” as stated by Ms. Jackson. Qualified Immunity is offered for all professionals to protect them if they act in a manner they believe to be lawful and correct, and it is later determined the action is not lawful. As an example, you receive a ticket from an officer for not wearing your seatbelt. You believe you should have the right to choose whether you wear a seatbelt as a reasonable adult. You take it to court and the court rules you are correct, and the law is unconstitutional. Qualified Immunity protects that officer from personal liability because he or she acted based on their belief the law was lawful at the time they enforced it. Qualified Immunity never has, nor ever will be to protect police officers for breaking the law or purposely violating someone’s rights. There is a lot of misinformation about this immunity and it is important for officers to have these protections to enforce laws that the legislature passes and demands we enforce while they enjoy Qualified Immunity.
I want to be clear; I did not mislead or misstate the language of the bill as I take the responsibility of informing the Commissioners on areas they should be involved in seriously. This legislation was rushed into law when the governor signed it on June 19th and yet most of the provisions will not go into effect until 2023. Law Enforcement Officers and the citizens of our state were fortunate enough to see many amendments to this bill over the course of the two weeks and we are hopeful in the course of the next year, other changes will come to fruition to allow officers to continue the good work they do.
Be Blessed,
Sheriff Byerly

[Editor’s note: The Sentinel ran an accurate summary of the bill as passed in the June 26, 2020 issue, written by Meghan Dollar, Legislative Advocacy Manager, Colorado Municipal League. Readers may go to SangreDeCristoSentinel.com to read or download the summary.]