By Stephanie Cook
CU News Corps
The number of officer-involved shootings in Colorado has increased each year since 2011, according to a new report from the Colorado Department of Public Safety. Between 2011 and 2015, the number of incidents reported by law enforcement nearly doubled, from 27 in 2011 to 52 in 2015.
While data from the second half of 2016 is not yet published, a higher percentage of officer-involved shootings resulted in death during the first six months of last year than during any of the previous six years.
The report, released this week, includes data on officer-involved shooting incidents that occurred between Jan. 1, 2010 and June 30, 2016. Across the state, 75 law enforcement agencies contributed information to the report.
Of all incidents recorded in the report, one resulted in an officer’s death. In contrast, nearly half of all citizens involved in shootings with officers were killed – 132 of the 294 total. Another 34 percent of citizens were wounded, compared with 7 percent of officers.
Civilians involved in police shootings were more diverse racially than the officers themselves. Minorities comprised at least 43 percent of those shot - 29 percent were Hispanic and 14 percent were black. In comparison, 10 percent of officers were Hispanic and 5 percent were black.
According to data collected by the state demographer’s office between 2011 and 2014, Colorado’s general population is 70 percent white, 21 percent Hispanic, 4 percent black, 3 percent Asian and 1 percent American Indian. The divide between law enforcement and citizens, especially minorities, is something police and community leaders in Denver say they are working to address.
“People see a police officer for the uniform and not for the human that lives there,” said Alexandra Alonso, the program manager for the Colorado Latino Leadership Advocacy & Research Organization. “Looking at the other side of that lens, there were a lot of community members who showed up and said, ‘Police officers are not meeting us where we are. There’s not enough dialogue.’”
Alonso said Denver Police Department Commander Ron Thomas has made an effort to open up communication with the city’s Latino and black communities, holding meetings with organizations like CLLARO and Black Lives Matter 5280.
The new report is the result of a 2015 Senate Bill mandating that Colorado law enforcement agencies collect and report certain data specific to officer involved shootings. A previous report, spanning from 2010 to June 30, 2015, was the first to be completed under the law.
“We drafted SB 217 because we knew the issue was on the public's mind,” said former Colorado state senator Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, who co-sponsored the bill with Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley. “Rather than have it be addressed reactively, we wanted to get ahead of it.”
Roberts said she is proud that those behind the legislation acted proactively and with bipartisan support.
While 279 agencies meet the reporting requirements, only 75 participated. That number is up from 2016, when 48 agencies submitted relevant data. Of the 75 agencies that contributed to the updated report, only 48 actually reported one or more officer-involved shooting. This is thanks in part to a “no incidents” collection tool added this year, which resulted in 27 additional agencies to comply.
While the bill created a uniform procedure for compiling data on officer involved shootings, some agencies were already keeping track of these instances prior to the legislation.
“We were ahead of the bill,” said Aurora Police Department spokesperson Crystal McCoy. “We were reporting and prepared for the bill and doing it prior.”
Under the new reporting mandate, the state compiles information on a range of topics. The report outlines fundamental facts, such as the number of officer involved shootings that take place and how many people are killed or injured, as well as more detailed topics, including the racial makeup of officers and citizens involved, whether or not officers issued a verbal warning prior to shooting and what type of weapons were involved.
Some categories included in the report seem difficult for agencies to answer. For example, one table offers a breakdown of the sexual orientation of citizens involved in incidents. The table is vague, with 89 percent of citizens categorized as “unknown” and the other 11 percent classified as straight.
Asking questions about a person’s sexual orientation is not routine, McCoy said, but some suspects may offer the information voluntarily. Another table on the percentage of citizens with disabilities – and what type of disability they might have – is similarly vague.
State and law enforcement officials who favor the reporting mandate hope the reports will enhance transparency between law enforcement and the public.
“The data provided in this report allows the public to dig deeper to learn more about the factors and people involved in these incidents,” said Denver Police Department spokesperson Doug Schepman.
The Denver Police Department also goes beyond state reporting requirements by posting data on its state website and posting findings from officer-involved shooting incidents spanning back to 2010 on the Denver District Attorney’s Office website, Schepman said.
In addition, recording and analyzing data from officer-involved shootings can help the state avoid misinformation and identify any issues that may need to be systematically addressed, Roberts said.
“The benefits are that, to date, although it's not been in existence a long time, we've not had a police shooting that I'm aware of where rumor got ahead of fact,” she said.
CU News Corps is an explanatory/investigative news project based at the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Media, Communication and Information.
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The Montana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has filed class-action lawsuit challenging a measure barring people from listing a gender on their birth certificate other than the one they were born with.
Montana lawmakers passed Senate Bill 280 in 2021, which requires a court order to change gender on a birth certificate. A state court issued an injunction against the measure but now the state health department has put a total ban on changes to sex designations on birth certificates.
Akilah Deernose, executive director of the ACLU of Montana, called the measure part of a "concerted and unrelenting attack" on the civil rights of people who identify as transgender.
"We've previously sued on the birth certificate issue," Deernose pointed out. "Once again, we're seeing the state implement laws and rules and policies that unfairly target transgender people."
On the other side, some people argued birth certificates contain vital statistics and should be based on the facts at the time of birth. The suit awaits action in state court.
Deernose noted beyond privacy rights, the birth certificate measure has the potential to force a person to declare themselves to be someone other than who they are, based on their declared identity.
"And who they know themselves to be," Deernose observed. "That puts them at risk of discrimination and also forces them to out themselves every time they share those identity documents."
The suit also challenges a motor vehicle department policy forbidding changing sex designations on driver's licenses.
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New York state lawmakers have appointed members to the Community Commission on Reparations Remedies, created through legislation Gov. Kathy Hochul signed in 2023.
Its goal is to examine the legacy of slavery and its continuing impacts on black New Yorkers. The commission will develop a report outlining recommendations for addressing these inequities.
Linda J. Mann, co-founder of the African American Redress Network, said there is one problem facing the commission: a lack of funds.
"It is absolutely imperative that funds for these types of task force, because of the amount of research that's going into it, is an imperative," Mann emphasized.
While the bill had plenty of Democratic support, it drew the ire of Republican lawmakers.
Many areas of the country are determining how to redress past disparities Black people face. A recent report found philanthropies have received millions in funds stemming from depriving Black people of opportunities to build wealth similar to those of their white counterparts.
The New York commission will have to present its findings in 2025.
A 2021 Pew Research survey showed three-quarters of Black Americans surveyed support reparations, while only 18% of white Americans support it.
Along with the U.S., countries worldwide are navigating reparations, with Mann noting they are not always compensatory.
"We're not talking about just altering economic wellness," Mann pointed out. "There's other ways in which historical harms have led to disparities in education, in health, in housing."
Beyond New York, California is the only other state to have created a reparations commission. California's reparations task force recommended some compensatory reparations based on factors such as health harms, mass incarceration and over-policing, housing discrimination and the devaluation of African American businesses. But, it wasn't certain how much all of this would amount to.
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By Faith Fistler for Kent State NewsLab.
Broadcast version by Nadia Ramlagan.
The first time Tyana Barton was singled out because of her hair was when she was told to straighten it before a dance recital.
"That was like the first time in maybe 10 years I've ever had to straighten my hair. So I was like, distraught about that," Barton said. "And everybody was just like, 'it's not that serious'. And I'm like, 'it is, though. It is.'"
At the predominantly white studio in Dayton, Barton's instructor wanted all the dancers to look the same for a particular performance. Barton, being the only Black dancer, was asked to straighten her afro-textured hair to comply.
"I'm looking at all of these other girls with long hair, and it's just like perfectly straight. And then I'm having to go over my hair several times with the straightener just to get it to any form. It made me super emotional," said Barton, who is now a fashion merchandising student at Kent State University.
In Ohio, there is no statewide legal protection against hair-based discrimination from employers and schools. Individuals can be told to change their afros, braids, dreadlocks and twists or denied employment opportunities if it does not align with dress code standards.
The Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act, otherwise known as the CROWN Act, would provide statutory protection for individuals discriminated against for wearing protective hairstyles unique to Black culture.
Rep. Juanita Brent (D-Cleveland) has been trying to get the act off the house floor since 2020. In 2023, she reintroduced House Bill 178 for the third time, now with bipartisan support from republican Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Concord).
"This is my life story. My hair may be straight now, but most times my hair is in braids," Brent said. "And I just think it's crazy that there are people who are being removed from classrooms, who are not allowed to participate in sports events and are being removed from job opportunities because they're choosing to have their hair in braids and afros."
The legislation has already passed in cities such as Columbus, Akron, Cincinnati and Cleveland Heights.
"There are so many places where discrimination is occurring. So sometimes it takes a lot longer to do it in every city, and every community," she said. "Sometimes people don't realize the need for it until it happens to your neighbor, your grandchild, it happens to yourself."
The Ohio Chamber of Commerce has testified against H.B. 178, arguing that it "increases civil liability for employers, limits at-will employment in our state, and hampers the ability for businesses to set their own workplace policies."
Kevin Shimp, who testified on behalf of the Chamber, did not respond to interview requests.
The legislation is currently with the House Civil Justice Committee and has until December 2024 to pass.
"Controlling people's hair is almost like putting people in their place and saying you don't belong here," Brent said.
The history of what is considered an acceptable presentation of Black hair in the United States dates back to slavery when European aesthetics became the standard, said Mwatabu Okantah, department chair and professor of Africana Studies at Kent State University.
"On the one hand, many of our people have just ignored it and have lived according to our own aesthetic values, even within the context of being here in the United States," Okantah said. "Then, others of our people have internalized it and have struggled with extremely negative perceptions of ourselves, seeing ourselves the way white society sees us."
Black people's response to the European aesthetic has gone through cycles of assimilating to the social norm to embracing natural hairstyles in spite of it. Okantah said the cultural shift in recent years could be attributed to changing attitudes and Black people holding more positions of power.
"Enough of us now are scholars, mental health professionals, lawyers, and politicians. And so we have more tools to take that back. So I think the CROWN Act came out of that," he said.
The CROWN Act was introduced in California in 2019. It is now law in around two dozen states. The House of Representatives approved the CROWN Act in 2022, but the Senate did not.
Wendy Greene, a professor at Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law and founder of #FreetheHair, has served as an advisor since the CROWN Act was conceived and has found the experience "rewarding".
"It's been really great to be able to see how this legislation is empowering young people to be advocates, young people to express their racial and cultural identities freely in their schools and their workplaces," Greene said. "And to see in turn, how people are using this legislation to educate and enrich others who may not really be familiar with this kind of discrimination because it's not their experience."
While the legislation will not end racial discrimination, the CROWN Act means employers could be found financially responsible for an individual's loss of job opportunity and emotional or psychological damage, Greene said.
"The major legal obligation is to just to stop engaging in the discrimination in and of itself," she said.
Faith Fistler wrote this article for Kent State News Lab. This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.
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