Colorado lawmakers look to ease process for veterans who want to become police officers
By: Colette Bordelon
Posted 10:15 PM, Feb 12, 2024 and last updated 4:39 PM, Feb 13, 2024
DENVER — A bipartisan bill that aims to make it easier for veterans to become police officers in Colorado passed out of the House of Representatives after a 59-5 vote on Monday.
House Bill 24-1093 would allow armed forces members to obtain an interim certification to work as a police officer while completing any requirements for basic certification in Colorado. Currently, only qualified law enforcement members from other states can obtain such certification.
The Colorado Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) is in charge of reviewing and approving applications
“All this does is simply remove the exception that's been in the statute that disallows military service from being eligible for POST training... I can explain it better than most because I have a background as both military police officer and civilian law enforcement," said State Representative Ryan Armagost, R - Larimer and Weld Counties, one of the prime sponsors of the bill. “When I did get into law enforcement, all of the training I had been through as a military police officer was basically non-existent. So the fact that it was harder to become a civilian police officer with military police experience than it would be coming fresh out of college or whatever was a little frustrating to me. And I'm sure that is for a lot of military members and veterans.”