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Problems issuing summonses to uncooperative defendants or that might be contested in court
should be brought to the operations supervisor’s attention. Rangers must also notify the City
Attorney’s Office of serious problems with defendants or potentially difficult cases, such as verbal
threats made during contact, accusations of civil rights violations, or high profile defendant cases.

The Summons Narrative
Protocols established by the presiding municipal court judge must be followed. The bond amount
should appear on the summons, but the judge makes the final determination regarding penalties.

The defendant’s description using correct abbreviations, address, phone number, operator’s
license number (OLN), and all other fields must be filled in completely if possible. When rangers
find that a field has been filled in incorrectly, an amended form must be completed and, with the
summons, turned in to the court. When asking for defendant identification, rangers must only
accept a driver’s license or other form of identification and never take the entire wallet.

Rangers may stop those individuals they reasonably suspect are committing, have committed,
or are about to commit a crime and may require they provide their name and address, any
available identification, and an explanation of their actions. All other information is optional,
although it is difficult to positively identify someone without a birth date. Suspects who have not
been adequately identified, have falsely identified themselves, or have refused service of a
summons, may be arrested at the ranger’s discretion. Rangers may also write, “refused,” on the
summons and issue it even when the defendant refuses to sign.

Under Rule 204 of the Colorado Rules of Municipal Court Procedures, a defendant is not
required to sign a municipal summons. It is sufficient to serve the summons on the defendant
with a ranger’s signature affirming he or she personally served the defendant.

Rangers are encouraged to keep comprehensive field notes to document violations that result in
issuing a summons since they may prove useful in court. If a party is uncooperative, rangers may
choose to write a ticket that requires a mandatory court appearance.

Part II: Use of Force

Policy
In addition to the following guidelines, rangers must follow the policies and procedures in the
most recent version of the BPD’s Policies and Procedures general orders pertaining to “Use of
Force” and “Firearms.”

(Note: Specific techniques change periodically and are taught and recorded by the BPD’s
Defensive Tactics Instructor Team and their training sergeants. Each ranger must complete an
approved defensive tactics course and participate in training annually, according to BPD policy.)

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