Survey: Morale, Recruitment Keep Worrying Colo. Police Agencies

Colorado law enforcement agencies continue to have trouble recruiting and retaining officers, according to the results of a new survey Tuesday by the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, the County Sheriffs Association and the Colorado Fraternal Order of Police.

Members who responded to the survey most often ranked officer morale and recruitment and retention top concerns, with nearly 80% of survey respondents listing them as "extremely important." Some sentiments expressed by officers in the report — though none of the officers are quoted by name — include frustrations that policies around policing are made by lawmakers who haven't worked in law enforcement themselves. There's also concerns that officers face increased liability for line-of-duty actions.

Legislative changes have led to officers having concerns about their safety and their peers' safety, according to the report.

"Making split-second decisions has turned into making decisions after minutes of deliberation," according to one officer. "While that may not necessarily affect officers in situations where time is on our side, I've seen a dramatic increase of second guessing in scenarios where time is not on our side."

Colorado's legislature passed a policing reform law in June 2020 dubbed Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act in the midst of protests sparked by George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis. Those new laws, the survey reports, remain a top reason for officers leaving the force.

The Act removed qualified immunity, meaning people can sue officers in their individual capacities in state court for alleged civil rights violations. And officers convicted of, or who plead guilty to, inappropriate use of force, failure to intervene to stop excessive force or found civilly liable for either of those offenses will permanently lose their certification by Colorado's Peace Officer Standards and Training Board.

The law also requires officers in Colorado's local law enforcement agencies and the state patrol, with a few exceptions, to have body or dash cameras activated during interactions with the public or while responding to service calls. The mandate goes into effect July 1, 2023.

The report expands on the findings of a similar study released last year in which Colorado's agencies reported challenges with filling open positions and fewer people choosing careers in law enforcement.

About 70% of agencies with 50 or fewer employees reported a shortage of between 1 to 6 officers. About 90% of agencies with 250 or more employees reported shortages of 16 or more officers.

More than 60% of respondents from the sheriffs' association said their staff shortages have worsened compared to a year ago, while about 51% of respondents from the police chiefs' association said their shortages have stayed about the same.

Officer shortages have created challenges in responding to calls for service and workloads, according to the survey.

"Near critical levels of staffing leave few officers on the street. It's a huge struggle to handle all calls for service while backing each other on calls," said one member of the Fraternal Order of Police, according to the report. "Staffing levels prevent us from receiving additional training and taking days off, which greatly impacts morale and is leading to officer burn-out."

After watching several jail deputies leave to work for local police departments, one member of the sheriffs' association said their agency has adjusted recruiting, focused on training deputies how to work under new policing policy changes, and hired an in-house attorney to provide guidance.

"Because of this, we have solidified great loyalty and trust," said the sheriffs' association member.

More than 230 officers participated in the study, which was conducted between August and September.

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