Families receive updates and recordings after fatal police force

The employing law enforcement agency releases incident recordings upon request and provides recordings to the deceased person's immediate family. This applies when a peace officer's use of force causes a person's death. Immediate family includes a spouse, child, stepchild, parent, stepparent, sibling, legal guardian, qualifying significant other, or lawful representative. Any person may request unedited video and audio recordings after the 21-day period described in the law. The agency must make reasonable efforts to identify immediate family and provide recordings to each identified family member and a person the family designates within 21 days after the incident, unless they decline. Upon request, the family and its designee receive recordings depicting the death after the internal investigation and appeals, multi-agency investigation and report, and criminal case and appeals are complete. Family members and their designee must be notified of their right to receive and review recordings at least 72 hours before public disclosure. The public request period starts after the 21-day period described in the law. The agency must provide recordings to identified family members and their designee within 21 days after the incident. It provides recordings depicting the death upon request after the listed investigations, reports, and criminal case, including appeals, are complete.

Police departments, sheriff's offices, and district attorneys maintain and make public protocols for multi-agency investigations, evaluations, or reviews of specified serious force incidents. The protocols cover an officer's firearm discharge that causes injury or death, or another use of force that causes death. A multi-agency team must include at least one other police department or sheriff's office, or the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. The protocols must be posted online or made available upon request if the agency has no website.

The employing agency or multi-agency team investigating a fatal use-of-force incident notifies known immediate family members and a person the family designates about the investigation. This applies when an officer's use of force causes a person's death. The agency must notify immediate family members known to it and a person the family designates. The notice must name the agencies on the investigation team and give the investigation's status. Notice is due within 24 hours after the incident scene is cleared.

An officer involved in investigating a criminal matter about another officer's fatal use of force may not make certain public statements; videos made for community or critical-incident briefings must meet stated requirements. The statement rule covers officers participating in or previously participating in the criminal investigation of another officer's use of force resulting in death. The video requirements apply to community or critical-incident briefing videos. The statement restriction applies when the officer knows or reasonably should know the agency statement will be shared publicly and is substantially likely to materially prejudice a court proceeding. The law presumes that subjective views about a person's character or credibility, opinions that a person is guilty of a crime, and information about a person's prior criminal record meet that test. A briefing video must disclose that it was modified. Narration or text must stick to known facts and cannot offer opinions or legal conclusions about criminality, liability, or misconduct. Edits to highlight details or protect substantial privacy interests must be apparent or disclosed.