Proposed Colorado bill would prohibit police from handcuffing elementary-age students at school

Members of the Colorado legislature’s Black caucus have proposed a bill that would prohibit police from handcuffing elementary-age students at school.

The Denver Post reports that state Sen. Janet Buckner’s bill would ban handcuffing of elementary students statewide, as well as make a series of other changes intended to overhaul disciplinary procedures in schools and limit the “school-to-prison pipeline.”

All nine members of the legislature’s Black caucus are sponsoring the bill, and Gov. Jared Polis highlighted the legislation in his State of the State address last month.The proposed legislation was introduced after Chalkbeat Colorado reported that at least 65 kids were handcuffed in a two-year period in Denver. Denver has since eliminated the practice in elementary schools.

The bill proposes that school resource officers would no longer be able to arrest or ticket a student for violations such as theft of an item under $300 in value, criminal mischief resulting in under $1,000 in property damage, trespassing, gambling, loitering, harassment, petty marijuana offenses or offenses relating to alcohol or tobacco use.

“No one should refer a child to law enforcement for normal youth behaviors,” says state Rep. Leslie Herod. She says she “made bad decisions” as a kid and is grateful for the positive reinforcement she got at school.

Herod said that middle schoolers and high schoolers aren’t included in the handcuffing ban because the sponsors were following Denver’s lead. They’re hopeful that other proposed changes will reduce the chances that older students will interact with police at school.