Elijah McClain





CFOIC’s 2022 year in review: Club Q, McClain autopsy, serial meetings, secret ballots, book banning, teacher sick days and Casa Bonita

Like last year, court rulings dominate CFOIC’s 2022 list of transparency highs and lows, with perhaps the most closely watched decision coming nearly three weeks after a shooter killed five people and wounded more than a dozen others at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs on Nov. 19.




A groundbreaking 2019 law opened records on police internal affairs investigations. The legislature could make the disciplinary process even more transparent.

Incidents in Colorado and elsewhere show the limitations of HB 19-1119 as a tool of transparency, accountability and for building trust between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. More could be done to ensure the public knows when officers are accused of misconduct or of using excessive force, how those allegations are investigated and whether and how discipline is imposed.