The state of affairs got here to a head when the household agreed to take Richard out of the locked mental-health facility the place he’d been compelled to remain quickly.
As a part of the deal, Richard would enable his brothers to promote his guns. But he went again on his phrase, his brothers mentioned, and known as the police to accuse them of felony theft.
When a Denver police officer started to analyze, the brothers performed an audio recording in which Richard agreed to surrender the guns, they mentioned.
The officer acknowledged that the theft claims have been meritless. But as an alternative of merely dropping the case, the officer determined to take motion.
The police shuttled away the guns and ammo from John’s residence — and began the crimson flag course of.
A patchwork of implementation
Colorado legislation companies fluctuate extensively in their method to the crimson flag legal guidelines. Dozens of counties are actively against the legislation or have put strict restrictions on when it may be used.
Republicans and others in Colorado argue it violates due course of, as a result of a decide can concern a preliminary, two-week order earlier than the individual is made conscious that they’re the topic of a petition. The legislation can also curtail an individual’s Second Amendment rights even once they haven’t been accused of breaking the legislation.
In El Paso County, legislation enforcement officers derided the legislation as “unconstitutional” and mentioned they might solely use it the place their deputies found probable cause for a crime; the sheriff’s workplace there has by no means filed a crimson flag petition.
Other companies have accepted the legislation, however have performed comparatively little to encourage its use.
For instance, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office added 13 pages describing ERPO to its coverage handbook. But the workplace has not skilled deputies particular on the use of the legislation, because it encounters crimson flag instances so hardly ever, mentioned spokesperson Jacki Kelley.
“I feel very comfortable that our deputies are aware of ERPO. They know because they have to read policy. They also have to acknowledge that they read it,” she mentioned, including: “It’s very rarely used.”
JCSO serves the county’s unincorporated inhabitants of roughly 200,000 folks. The company has used the legislation twice, in response to Kelley. The company’s method is just not uncommon, with companies in Westminster, Fort Collins and Thornton equally telling CPR News that they’d written insurance policies however no documented coaching procedures for ERPO, in response to information requests.
In distinction, a couple of companies have deliberately made ERPO a spotlight for his or her officers. In Denver, the native authorities convened officers from native police, the district lawyer’s workplace and the courts to determine how to make use of the legislation.
They thought-about completely different approaches, resembling permitting patrol officers to “take the lead” on ERPO, Montoya mentioned. But they as an alternative selected a centralized method.
All officers are skilled on the fundamentals of ERPO via a video and a coaching bulletin, Montoya mentioned. But a lot of the work of the ‘red flag’ instances falls to a workforce of consultants, who can examine a case and work with the city lawyer’s workplace all through the civil court docket course of.
“It takes some time to really look into these and you have a short window,” Montoya mentioned. “It’s just not a matter of typing out an affidavit. It’s all the background work that goes into this.”
The workforce now consists of two sergeants, 4 detectives and a lieutenant, with crimson flag instances making up about half their workload, Montoya mentioned. That centralized method is a trademark of different cities which have embraced ERPO, too, mentioned Frattarolli.
In Denver, the courts have additionally designated a single decide, Elizabeth Leith, who hears virtually each Denver ERPO case. Leith has granted year-long red-flag orders in greater than 80 % of the instances filed by police — whereas the authorities in different areas have generally struggled to persuade judges that an individual is a menace.
The city of Lakewood has taken an identical method to Denver, assigning a workforce of officers with psychological well being experience to deal with ERPO instances. They’ve seized 33 guns in response to 13 court docket orders, mentioned Commander Jon Alesch.
“We saw the importance of the tool and we saw that the due process was there to ensure the protection of the rights of the community,” mentioned Commander Jon Alesch.
The Lakewood Police Department has filed the second-most ERPO petitions in the state.
How it ended
When the Denver police obtained concerned, issues obtained a lot easier for the Boulware brothers.
It was “total relief,” Tad mentioned. “The whole operation could not have been handled better.”
Detective Travis Lloyd crammed out an in depth six-page affidavit, summarizing the advanced story that had already unfolded. Judge Leith shortly granted a two-week gun elimination order.
City attorneys then labored to construct a case for a full one-year ban, together with by asking the decide to launch medical information. An lawyer and a guardian advert litem have been assigned to signify Richard’s pursuits.
Richard’s lawyer spent 73 hours on the case and was paid greater than $6,000 by the court docket, court docket information confirmed. An skilled witness, psychologist John Dicke, was paid greater than $2,000 by the court docket.
Meanwhile, Tad, John and different members of the family have been working to make Richard’s residence safer and extra presentable for him. Soon, the two sides convened for a listening to.
“Everybody had a chance to speak,” mentioned Tad, who attended by phone.
He hadn’t thought a lot about crimson flag legal guidelines earlier than, however the expertise left him satisfied of their advantages.
“We have the right to protect ourselves and our families. And you can’t take that away,” he mentioned. “But there comes time — old age, dementia, as happened to my brother — where it’s time to go get them, to protect against harm to him and to others.”
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsWhile ERPO has been a politically polarized concern since its introduction in Colorado, that’s not the case in every single place. Former President Donald Trump has championed the legal guidelines, as has former Vice President Mike Pence. Florida and Indiana, each crimson states, are amongst the leaders in their use.
John Boulware, additionally a conservative, agrees on the legislation’s worth. “I am for Second Amendment rights, but I think there’s limits … that call for people not having guns,” he mentioned.
On Dec. 9, Judge Leith issued a one-year gun elimination order, permitting police to carry onto Richard’s guns. He returned to his residence, however remained remoted, unwilling to see his brothers or buddies. The order stayed in impact till the finish of his life, two months later.
Richard Stark Boulware died in February 2022. His obituary memorialized the many earlier chapters of his life, together with his time as an aerial reconnaissance photographer in the U.S. Navy and as the deputy director of aviation for Stapleton International Airport.
Longtime Denverites could keep in mind one of his most bold initiatives at the airport — a collection of huge gentle bins that displayed pictures of Colorado from above. Tad and John will keep in mind the tough finish of Richard’s life, but additionally what he all the time was — their older brother.
“He’s always my loving brother,” Tad mentioned.