WEEK OF DECEMBER 26, 2024
VOLUME 36| ISSUE 52
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‘One-stop document’ for Commerce City teens State mulls stricter rules for police licensing Standard board asks to add 31 misdemeanors to disqualifying list BY ALLISON SHERRY CPR NEWS
Commerce City teens pose for a photo during an outdoor teen program where they participated in a high ropes course at Colorado Adventure COURTESY OF COLORADO ADVENTURE CENTER Center in Idaho Springs in Summer of 2024.
• Vestas to lay off 200 employees •27J Schools moves online-only Dec. 1
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is newsletter really just highlights and there has always been a newsletter. Youth Services newsletter offers our“Thbigger programs and when we are Over time, with the increase of technolout in the community doing outreach ogy and the move from paper to digital, program highlights, more events,” Griffin said. “This is just a way the newsletter received a revamp about BY JACKIE RAMIREZ SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
The kids in Commerce City are definitely all right, with the help of the Youth Services newsletter, which came out Dec. 12. By sharing resources, classes and events for the youth of the Commerce City community, the newsletter, published by the Youth Services division of Commerce City’s Parks, Recreation and Golf department, serves as a “onestop document” for all things teen-related. Shannon Griffin, Youth Services supervisor, and Megan Krabbe, recreation coordinator of Youth Services’ general programs, have teamed up to shine a spotlight on the ongoing events and resources that their division offers.
that we can keep all of our monthly updates in one document that we can share with families in the community.” The most recent newsletter provided a 2024 Youth Services In Review, where they highlighted “Kickstart to Adulthood,” where a Youth Commission Conference brought together 45 high school students to learn more about mental health and student rights. The newsletter also stated that the Youth Services offered 240 programs and served around 3,759 community members in 2024. In addition, the newsletter reminds the community of upcoming events such as their famous upcoming annual Daddy Daughter Dance in February 2025 where the Youth Services hosts 300 participants at Bison Ridge Recreation Center. Griffin and Krabbe have worked with Commerce City for close to 10 years,
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two years ago. Since then, Griffin and Krabbe have continued to better highlight the important youth-related topics and events in the area. “We can reach a little bit more of a broader outreach with a better online version of it,” Griffin said. The revamp of the newsletter includes clickable links and QR codes to easily access programs for specific age groups and even a “family” link and QR code for a family program by the recreation department. “We really just want to make it as easy and user-friendly with those links,” Krabbe said. Creating an easily accessible and userfriendly newsletter is key to creating a newsletter that resonates with teens and the community.
Child abuse, animal cruelty, theft, fraud, invasion of privacy for sexual gratification. In Colorado, a person can be convicted of these crimes — plus dozens of others — and still qualify to be a licensed peace officer responsible for dealing with people at their most vulnerable moments. The state agency in charge of licensing the state’s law enforcement officers wants that to change. The Peace Officers Standards and Training Board voted unanimously this month to ask the state legislature to add another 31 misdemeanor crimes to the existing list of 44 as “decertifying to be a peace officer.” That means if the legislature agrees, a law enforcement officer convicted of any of these crimes will also be decertified. The state already bars anyone convicted of any felony from being able to serve as a law enforcement officer. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, whose office manages the POST board, said that adding to this list of disqualifying misdemeanors is long overdue. “Over a decade ago, the POST Board had recommendations for additional categories that should merit being decertified. The legislature failed to act,” he said. “It’s important that the public have full confidence in law enforcement, and conduct in these misdemeanor categories is unacceptable and should prevent someone from serving in law enforcement in Colorado.” Currently not included in that disqualifying list is violating a protective order – something state officials hope the legislature adds. SEE RULES, P12
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