Committee advances bill to surface military protection orders in civilian cases

Senate Bill 85, which would increase information-sharing between local law enforcement and military authorities about military protection orders (MPOs), advanced from the House Judiciary Committee on a favorable recommendation.

The sponsor told the committee the bill is aimed at better coordination when a domestic-violence incident involves a service member so judges have a fuller evidentiary record. "What this bill does is more of a coordination between local law enforcement and military law enforcement," the sponsor said when introducing the proposal and asked the committee for an aye vote.

The bill as introduced would direct peace officers who respond to a domestic-violence incident to determine whether a party is a current member of the armed forces and, if so, check whether a military protection order has been issued. Committee members raised concerns about how officers would identify service members at the scene and whether the statute's sequence matched dispatch practice.

Michelle Reichardt, a regional liaison at the Defense-State Liaison Office for the Department of Defense, testified in support and said MPOs are entered into the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC). "When a commander issues an MPO, military law enforcement enters it into the FBI's National Crime Information Center database," Reichardt said, urging that allowing MPOs to be used as evidence in civilian temporary-protective-order hearings would close a protection gap for victims.

George Dingfelder, chief of police in Alamosa and speaking for more than 120 chiefs through the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, said chiefs support the bill's intent but sought clearer, workable language for officers in the field. Dingfelder noted the chiefs favored a reasonable-suspicion standard and said that amendment L002 would align the bill with existing Colorado practice and avoid inconsistent application across jurisdictions.

Committee members and witnesses explained dispatch and records practices: if the military enters an MPO into NCIC, the entry typically triggers an automatic NCIC/CCIC alert when a name is run, which would notify dispatch and prompt further verification of active-duty status and notification to military command. Several members argued the bill's original sequencing (determine military status first, then search NCIC) read backward relative to how dispatch checks typically operate; counsel proposed language to strike the problematic lines and require a search when an officer has reasonable suspicion a domestic-violence crime occurred.

After debate and witness answers, Representative Espinosa moved amendment L003 (building on the L002 drafting changes); members adopted L3 without objection. The committee then voted to advance SB85, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole on a recorded vote of 10 yes, 0 no, with 1 excused.

The measure's supporters said the change is primarily about improving communication and ensuring judges can consider MPOs when deciding civilian protection orders, while law-enforcement witnesses and some members pushed for precise statutory triggers so officers apply the requirement consistently.

The committee concluded that further technical drafting could be handled by sponsors and staff but voted to move the bill forward. SB85 will next be scheduled for consideration by the Committee of the Whole.