Denver committee hears police and sheriff training briefings; officials cite hands-on needs, range capacity and wellness supports

The Denver City Council Health and Safety Committee on Jan. 21 heard a joint briefing from the Denver Police Department and the Denver Sheriff's Department on officer training, logistics and wellness supports.

Committee Chair Daryl Watson opened the meeting and invited agency representatives to explain how state-mandated training and local programs are delivered. Department presenters said the Colorado POST minimum requires 24 hours of annual continuing education, ‘‘12 of which are what we call perishable skills,’’ including arrest control, emergency vehicle operations and firearms training, and that agencies supplement those minimums with locally run programs such as active-bystander (ABLE) training and crisis-intervention instruction.

The training leads said hands-on instruction is essential for many of those skills. ‘‘You can't train arrest control off of the video,’’ Lieutenant Jesse Campion said, adding that firearms,…