Efforts to decertify former Albany County Sheriff’s Deputy Derek Colling, who shot and killed unarmed Laramie resident Robbie Ramirez in 2018, are once again tied up in court.
During the 2024 budget session, the Wyoming Legislature fixed an ambiguity in state law that previously prevented the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission — the state agency responsible for training, certifying and decertifying law enforcement in Wyoming — from accessing the personnel records it needs to complete an investigation into Colling’s fitness to serve.
House Bill 31 – Peace officers-records and reporting, which took effect July 1, grants POST access to police personnel records for “purposes of investigating or determining a peace officer’s initial certification, continuing certification, suspension, revocation or termination.” Yet, fearing Colling might sue, Albany County is still reluctant to fulfill POST’s July 12 request for his personnel files without guidance from a judge, Albany County Attorney Kurt Britzius told WyoFile.
Albany County essentially forced a court intervention by failing to provide POST with Colling’s personnel records within 30 days as required by HB 31. Therefore POST filed a petition with the 2nd District Court for the release of the requested information.
The ball is now in Albany County’s hands. Britzius acknowledged receipt of POST’s petition on Sept. 18, which started a 20-day countdown for the county to file a formal response in court.
It’s too early to say if or when a hearing will be scheduled, court staff told WyoFile.
Backstory
Ramirez, who was unarmed and living with mental illness, was the third person Colling killed on duty. While serving with the Las Vegas Police Department, Colling shot two people — both shootings were later deemed justified — and was fired after being accused of severely beating a third. He then returned to his hometown of Laramie to join the Albany County Sheriff’s Office in 2012, initially as a corrections officer and then moving to patrol.
After Colling killed Ramirez on Nov. 4, 2018, POST received seven complaints, 14 letters and 2,608 signatures in favor of Colling’s decertification, records show.
Colling resigned from the Albany County Sheriff’s Office in 2021, but retained his certification. A decertification by POST would disqualify him from future law enforcement work in Wyoming.
POST’s ability to thoroughly investigate Colling stalled when Albany County refused to release his personnel records to the agency, Director Chris Walsh explained last year to a legislative committee.
Access to personnel records “could prove or disprove allegations in an investigation against an officer,” Walsh, a former police officer, told lawmakers.
When the Albany County Sheriff’s Office refused to hand over Colling’s personnel records in 2023, POST took the matter to the district court in Albany County. On Aug. 25, 2023, Judge Misha Westby denied POST’s request for Colling’s personnel files due to ambiguities in state statute.
Westby concluded that the Wyoming Public Records Act provided grounds to deny access to personnel files and that nowhere in state statute was an exception granting POST access to this information for investigatory purposes.
What now?
House Bill 31 addressed the statutory shortcoming Westby identified, yet concern that Colling might sue the county for releasing the records has POST’s request back in court.
POST’s Sept. 13 petition for Colling’s records alleges, “On or about August 2, 2024, legal counsel for Mr. Colling, inappropriately and without standing, interfered with this lawful request for Mr. Colling’s personnel files by implying the threat of litigation if the personnel records were produced.”
Because the case is still active, Walsh declined to provide further details about the interference.
Stephenson Emery, Colling’s attorney, did not respond to questions about POST’s allegations by press time.
That’s pretty good. Albany County can’t go by the law. What does that tell you?
And I thought it was bad in China