Police Departments Handled Multiple Officers-Involved Shootings Differently
Nine officer-involved shooting occurred in the Denver metro between April and July. In a little over two months, the Denver metro area had nine officer-involved shootings.
The corresponding agencies, including the Denver Police Department and the Aurora Police Department, handled the release of public information differently throughout the various incidents, raising questions over how media information regarding shootings is disseminated.
For example, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas held a news conference after three officers shot and killed a man — later identified as 52-year-old Miguel Tapia — after allegedly coming toward them with a “hunting style” knife.
Thomas briefed the media on what occurred and then held a follow-up conference on June 25, a standard part of the department’s policy.
But after a shooting, in which Joby Vigil and Jasmine Castro were killed after Castro allegedly shot at the police, the Thornton Police Department did not hold a news conference, instead releasing a heavily-edited body camera footage nearly a month after as part of its “community briefing” on YouTube.
While the discretion of when these incidents are discussed and what is shown depends on the department, lawmakers passed the Law Enforcement Integrity Act in 2020, mandating departments release body camera footage within 21 days after a complaint of misconduct against an officer is filed.
Some argued that’s not enough public information.
“We’re talking about officers shooting people in the public,” said Siddhartha Rathod, a civil rights attorney and partner with Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC, a law firm that often represents the families of individuals injured or killed in shootings. “That’s the public’s documents. The public has a right to those images because the public pays for law enforcement. Without that information, the public is left in the dark.”
Source TheDenverGazette.com : https://denvergazette.com/news/officer-involved-shooting-media-responses/article_8655b098-bf0c-11ef-a0f4-2773d5281984.html
Further Reading : https://denvergazette.com/news/public-safety/police/kilyn-lewis-protest-history/article_66c6f628-4073-11ef-9caf-63cac6b2e76c.html