NEWS RELEASE
OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY
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On Thursday and Friday, Governor Polis has signed, or will sign, three bills to improve public safety. Our office strongly supported these bills and we are pleased to see them becoming laws for the State of Colorado:
SB22-001 Crime Prevention Through Safer Streets (signed Thursday)
The bill creates the crime prevention through safer streets grant program to allow for applications from local governmental agencies that identify areas where crime is prevalent to obtain grant money for improvements designed to create safer streets. The bill allocated $10.3 million for the grants.
SB22-145 Resources to Increase Community Safety (to be signed Friday)
This bill creates 3 new grant programs within Colorado. First, the multidisciplinary crime prevention and crisis intervention grant program to award a total of $7.5 million in grants to law enforcement, other local governmental agencies, federally recognized Indian tribes, community-based organizations, and third-party membership organizations to identify high-crime areas and to implement crime prevention and intervention strategies in those areas. The second grant program is the law enforcement workforce recruitment, retention, and tuition grant program to award up to $3.75 million in grants to law enforcement agencies to address workforce shortages, improve training, and improve relationships between law enforcement and impacted communities. Lastly, the bill creates the state's mission for assistance in recruitment and training (SMART) policing grant program to increase the number of P.O.S.T.-certified and non-certified law enforcement officers who are representative of the communities they police and provide training for those additional law enforcement officers. The SMART policing grant program was allocated $3.75 million for grants.
SB22-018 Expand Court Reminder Program (signed Thursday)
This bill expands the current “opt-in” court reminder program to require every defendant to be automatically enrolled in the program and requires the program to provide at least 3 reminders, including one reminder the day before the court appearance, and, for court appearances that can be attended virtually, the final reminder must include a link to the virtual court appearance.
District Attorney Michael Dougherty explained, “With the signing of these bills, Colorado is taking direct action in response to the nationwide increase in crime by investing valuable support in community safety, law enforcement and crime reduction efforts. These bills recognize that it is not enough to simply react to criminal activity. There must be efforts to reduce the likelihood that criminal activity, particularly violent crimes, will take place. I strongly support the Legislature and Governor Polis taking these positive steps to help communities throughout Colorado.”
Additionally, on Friday afternoon, Governor Polis will sign:
SB 22-188 Behavioral Health Support for Criminal Justice Advocates.
This bill creates the public defender and prosecutor behavioral health support program to allocate $500,000 equally between the office of the state public defender and the Colorado district attorneys' council (CDAC) for counseling services, training and education programs regarding preventing, recognizing, and treating job-related trauma, and peer support programs.
District Attorney Michael Dougherty strongly supported this bill and stated, “Criminal justice staff are particularly at risk for experiencing traumatic stress. With today’s bill signing, Colorado will help minimize the impacts of trauma – while empowering staff to do their best work in furtherance of public safety and justice. It is in the best interest of all Coloradans for criminal justice advocates to be make sound decisions, free of traumatic stress. This bill will improve the health, wellbeing, and performance of those who carry great responsibility in our justice system.”
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