Colorado § 17-27-105.5 - Community parole officers - duties - arrest powers - definitions.

§ 17-27-105.5. Community parole officers - duties - arrest powers - definitions.

(1) For purposes of this section:

(a) "Director" means the director of the department's community corrections program whose powers and duties include those of a community parole officer.

(b) "Offender" means an inmate assigned to residential and nonresidential community corrections programs as those programs are set forth in this article 27 and articles 27.5 and 27.7 of this title 17 and a youthful offender system participant who is in phase III of the youthful offender system as set forth in section 18-1.3-407.

(2) The executive director of the department of corrections shall designate staff of the department to maintain jurisdiction over all offenders placed in any community corrections program by order of the executive director or as a condition of parole. Such staff may include community parole officers and the director.

(3) Community parole officers are authorized to:

(a) Supervise and habilitate offenders;

(b) Investigate, detect, and prevent crime involving offenders;

(c) Issue warrants for the arrest of offenders;

(d) Arrest offenders;

(e) Process reports or other official documents regarding offenders;

(f) Coordinate with community corrections boards and community corrections programs;

(g) Review offender supervision and treatment;

(h) Authorize offender transfers between residential and nonresidential phases of placement; and

(i) Carry out such other duties as the executive director directs.

(4) The director of community corrections or any community parole officer may arrest any offender when any offense under the laws of this state has been or is being committed by the offender in the presence of the director or the community parole officer, the director or the community parole officer has a warrant commanding that such offender be arrested, or the director or the community parole officer has probable cause to believe:

(a) That a warrant for the offender's arrest has been issued in this state or another state for any criminal offense or for a violation of the department's administrative code of penal discipline, a supervision order, or other administrative order;

(b) That a crime has been committed and that the offender has committed such crime;

(c) That the offender has violated a condition of the administrative code of penal discipline;

(d) That the offender is leaving or is about to leave the state;

(e) That the offender will fail or refuse to appear at a hearing to answer charges for a violation of the department's code of penal discipline; or

(f) That the arrest of the offender is necessary to prevent physical harm to the offender or another person or to prevent the commission of a crime.

(5) If a community parole officer makes an arrest of an offender with or without a warrant, or the offender is otherwise arrested, the offender shall be held in a county jail or program pending action by the community parole officer or the director of the community corrections program.

(6) A community parole officer shall seek out and arrest any fugitive from a correctional facility when called upon and assist other agencies in the apprehension of fugitives from jurisdictions throughout the state.

(7) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, each community parole officer, or the director acting as a community parole officer, shall notify the local law enforcement agency when the community parole officer is operating or intends to operate anywhere within the local law enforcement agency's jurisdiction and shall cooperate with such agency during the conduct of the investigation.

(8) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, if a community parole officer has probable cause to believe that a parolee who is under the supervision of the community parole officer has removed or tampered with an electronic monitoring device that the parolee is required to wear as a condition of his or her parole, the parole officer shall either:

(a) Immediately make a warrantless arrest of the parolee; except that, before making such an arrest, the community parole officer shall first determine that the notification of removal or tampering was not merely the result of an equipment malfunction.

(b) Not later than twelve hours after acquiring such probable cause, notify a law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the parolee's last-known address that the parolee is subject to an immediate warrantless arrest.

Source: L. 2000: Entire section added, p. 228, § 2, effective March 29. L. 2002: (1)(a) amended, p. 1508, § 169, effective October 1. L. 2013: (1)(a), (2), IP(3), IP(4), (5), (6), and (7) amended, (HB 13-1300), ch. 316, p. 1676, § 39, effective August 7. L. 2014: (8) added, (HB 14-1044), ch. 199, p. 728, § 4, effective May 15. L. 2026: (1)(b) amended, (HB 26-1064), ch. 15, p. 62, § 3, effective August 12.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration contained in the 2002 act amending subsection (1)(a), see section 1 of chapter 318, Session Laws of Colorado 2002.