September 28, 2026 · 14,695 words · 5 speakers · 54 segments
You look fabulous.
Ben, we're going to have you present first. Is that what we decided? Awesome.
All right. Whenever you're ready, just use this mic, and that way everyone virtually can hear you too. All right. Hello, everybody.
Hello.
Gather all my junk. There we go. Okay. So welcome to workplace harassment and expectations training. Everybody's favorite. My name is Ben Fitzsimons. I'm with the Legislative Human Resources Division. All staff are required to take this training every single year. So it's nice that volunteers are now getting it as well. For any of you who are staff, like if you're here for the whole time, this counts for you for this year. So you can just scratch that one right off the list. Let's see. So I'm going to go through a little bit about human resources here, legislative human resources division, just so that you're kind of aware of who we are and what we do. And then I'm going to talk about these policies, our harassment policy and our expectations policy. And I guess to kick things off, I like to start with why should you care about these policies? And there are two reasons. One is these policies protect you. And we're going to talk about that. So it's good to know that you have some policy protection. Also, even as volunteers, you're required to comply with these policies. So it's good to know that they exist and what they cover. So that's kind of why we're doing what we do and why staff have to have this every single year. Oh, yeah, and there's some slides up there. We'll need them, actually. As we run through things today, if anyone here has questions, feel free to shout them out. Anybody who's online as well, feel free to shout out any questions that you have as we run through things. Starting with the Legislative Human Resources Division, we're fairly new. We were originally created in 2019. We were the Office of Legislative Workplace Relations, which was HR-like, but we did less stuff. We didn't do all the HR stuff. And then about a year ago, our scope was broadened, so now we are a full HR agency serving the legislative branch. So we do all the HR stuff. A lot of it probably doesn't apply to you and what you do in your day-to-day lives here at the Capitol. But when we talk about the policies specifically, that is one of the ways that we can serve you. We're located in the Legislative Services Building, room 022. So if you go in through the ground floor entrance of that building, there's security. Hard right, right past security. That's our door. You can always come visit us. I've got contact info on the slide, and we're on the website, all this stuff. So if you ever need to talk to HR, you're always welcome to come talk to us. We are neutral. We are nonpartisan. Coming to talk to us is confidential, and we serve everybody. So we, of course, serve all of the employees of the General Assembly. That's the nonpartisan staff. That also includes partisan staff, aides, interns. We serve all of the volunteers We also serve all of the legislators And to a lesser extent we serve third parties who are folks like lobbyists members of the media DPA employees who work in the legislative environment. So we serve everybody who we interact with in this environment. Questions about HR? Pretty straightforward stuff. Excellent. Okay. So let's talk about some policies. And We're going to start by talking about the workplace harassment policy. And I want to start by telling you where you can find that policy. It's on the Colorado General Assembly website. It's in the footer of every page on that website. There's a list of policies. Workplace harassment policy is there. You can always find the most current version. In addition, it's in all the policy manuals for all of the agencies and the House and the Senate. So if you have access to any of those manuals, you could find it there. Oh, see, I didn't update the slides in this particular deck. You can also get it from us. And on the slide it says OLWR. That's who we used to be. Now we're LHRD. So you can always get it from HR. We can email it to you. We can print it for you. If anybody wants a hard copy who's here in person, I'm happy to give you one. I have a few of them. Usually people don't want paper policies these days, but if you're interested, you can have one. All right. Now we're going to get into the policy itself. And I'm not going to stand here and read the policy. Nobody likes that. We're going to go through it sort of. You can really tell you're putting it.
Wait, say that again.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to someone else here. Sorry, I'm going to mute myself.
No problem.
So we are going to sort of go through the policy from start to finish section by section. I'm going to give you the broad overview and then I do encourage you to read it so that you understand all the nuance as well. And instead of just going through it section by section, I like to have more fun when we can with this sort of stuff. So we're going to do this through a lens of music trivia today. And for full disclosure, some of these things that I've put in here are ridiculously obscure and there's no chance that anyone is going to get them right. Some of them are a little easier and more obvious. But with that challenge issued, let's go ahead and jump in. What I'm going to do is I'm going to show you a picture of like a band or an artist. We'll see if you know who it is. And then I'll play a clip of a song and then I will tie it into the policy, sometimes seamlessly, sometimes awkwardly. It just kind of depends on how it goes. So with that, here is a band. Does anybody know who that band was?
Men at Work, yes!
We're off to a good start. And Men at Work had a number of big hits in the 1980s, including this one. Who can it be knocking at my door?
Yes.
A number of folks are familiar with that one. Is there anyone who's never heard that song before? Okay. Most folks have. Okay. That song's called Who Can It Be Now? And as it relates to our workplace harassment policy, to whom can it be that the policy covers? And that is applicability Section A of the policy says who the policy to whom the policy applies And in this case it everyone that HR serves So this policy covers all of the legislators This policy covers all of the staff, nonpartisan and partisan, including aides and interns. And it covers all of you as volunteers. In this policy, the definition of legislative employee specifically includes volunteers. So you are all protected by this policy, and you are all required to comply with this policy. All right. Here's the next one. And this is like we had kind of a softball here with this band, I think. But the next ones, some of the next ones are, yeah. Oh, we talked about applicability. All right. Here we go. Does anybody know who this band is? Hello? I think they started in the 90s, but I think those are good guesses. Yep, some 90s ska type ant. I did this particular presentation some years ago for the legislators for their training, and I pulled up this slide, and the president of the Senate, James Coleman, said, Wu-Tang Clan. Nice. Oh, I thought that was really good. This is a band called Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Is anybody familiar with them? Do you know what they're famous for? Not being known? Here, I'll play you a little clip of one of their songs. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is exclusively a cover band. They don't have any original music. They just remake popular songs in sort of a pop punk style. So as it relates to our policy, we can ask, what does it cover? That's covered in Section B that talks about scope. And the scope of the workplace harassment policy is very specific. It only addresses behaviors that are based on protected classes. Does anybody know what protected classes are? Go ahead. Oh, no. Yeah. Yes. Things like age, race, religion, gender, pregnancy, veteran status, all the things that laws, state and federal laws, say that we cannot be discriminated against on the basis of. So the workplace harassment policy only covers behaviors that are based on protected classes. Everybody good so far? Excellent. All right. Our next artist. Oh, and I'm missing my slides where I talk about scope. Okay. Next artist. Paul Simon. Paul Simon, yes. This gentleman's a little bit more famous than me first in the Gimme Gimmes. Paul Simon has many, many songs, right, that have been very, very famous over 60 years or whatever. Here is one particular song Yes, Me and Julio down by the schoolyard. Now in that song, Me and Julio do something that's against the law, and Mama in Pajama's upset and she calls the police, and we get arrested, and then a radical priest comes and gets us released, and we end up on the cover of Newsweek, all that, right? What did me and Julio do that was against the law? The song doesn't say, right? Is that my phone? Oh, unprofessional. Yeah. That's it. Straight to jail. The song never says it's ambiguous. There's lots of theories. As it relates to our workplace harassment policy, however, unlike the song, what is prohibited is very clear. That's covered in Sections C and D of the policy. Section C says workplace harassment is prohibited. Well, of course, it's a workplace harassment policy, right? So we're not allowed to engage in any kind of workplace harassment. Section D also says that retaliation is prohibited. And what this means is that you cannot be retaliated against for filing a complaint under our policy. There we go. You cannot be retaliated against for participating in a process related to the policy. So if HR was conducting some kind of investigation and we call you up and we say, hey, we heard that you might have some firsthand knowledge and we ask you questions, even if you don't have any knowledge and you don't know what we're talking about, But if that phone call is related to a process that's happening under this policy, you are protected from retaliation. So there are very clear and strong anti-retaliation provisions built in here. Questions about that? We're doing good so far? All right. Here's our next band. They don't look like this anymore. Yes, U2. Very young, U2. The drummer, I feel like he looks like he's about 14 back there. Maybe he was. I don't know how old they were when they started. U2, of course, has a bunch of very famous songs. Here's a clip of one. I still haven't found what I'm looking for. I still haven't found what I'm looking for. That is a song about trying to find meaning. And as it relates to our workplace harassment policy, you don't have to try very hard to get meaning because Section E has all of the definitions written out in detail. I'm not going to read any of those definitions to you today. but when you look at the policy, section E is where you can find everything very clearly defined. Harassment, retaliation, the roles of everybody involved, all of that stuff is defined in there. Questions so far? Everybody still good? Okay, excellent. The next artist I'm going to show you is one of two that I can't imagine anyone will get. There's been a couple of good guesses on this next one, but no one has gotten it. So here we go. Thank you. for those of you online there was a guess of frank sinatra i heard tom waits joel gray yeah i was gonna say people have guessed joel gray and that's a great guess it is not joel gray however this is a gentleman named anthony newley Oh, yeah. Has anybody ever heard of Anthony Newley before? Okay. So one of the things that Anthony Newley did was co-wrote and starred in a musical called The Roar of the Grease Paint, The Smell of the Crowd. And I think that outside of theater folks, that may not be a widely recognized one. But there were some songs that came out of it that have become wildly popular, sort of jazz standards. Does anybody know any songs that came from that show? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, I've got one. And actually, so this is Anthony Newley wearing his costume from the show. He's sort of a raggedy clown figure. The clip I'm going to play you, though, is actually Sammy Davis Jr. singing the song. Because as I said, this particular song has become a very popular jazz standard. Who can I turn to when nobody needs me? My heart wants to know... Has anybody ever heard that one before? A couple of folks. Yeah, it's called Who Can I Turn To? And as it relates to the workplace harassment policy, if you find yourself asking who can you turn to, that is described in Section F of the policy, which talks about reporting. And it's super simple. If you ever have concerns, if you ever have questions, anything like that, you come when you talk to HR. We are the central point of contact for all concerns under the policy. As I mentioned, we're neutral, we're nonpartisan. Coming to talk to us is confidential, so you can always come talk to us with any concerns. When we get into process, you know, some things are a little bit different. We'll talk about that in a second. But reporting, very straightforward. Come talk to HR. All right. Next artist, also wildly obscure, I would say for most folks. There was a, for those of you who were online, there was a guess of Bessie Smith. Not Etta James. Older. Now, Billie Holiday. This is a performer named Rosa Henderson. And she predates all of those folks. She was big in the 1920s. Does anybody know? Yeah. I'm so larger. Yeah. 101 years ago she had a big hit And it sounds like this Anyone ever heard that song before? Pretty obscure. I didn't either until I was doing research to try to find a song that would fit into the policy in this way. That song is called Get It Fixed. Get It Fixed from 1925. As it relates to the workplace harassment policy, if you find yourself in a situation where you need to get something fixed, that can happen in two different ways. And they're outlined in sections G and H of the policy. I don't remember what my slides say. I think it just says resolution. Section G talks about informal resolution. So if you were to file a complaint under this policy, we could try to resolve the concerns informally, intentionally flexible. We can try anything that might work to fix the issue. There are no sort of boundaries. There are no steps that have to happen. There's no specific people doing specific things at specific times. Whatever might work, we can try that through the informal process. Section H talks about the formal resolution process. That's a more traditional workplace investigation. If you look at that section in the policy, it's really long because different people are required to do different things at different times, depending on who's been accused under the policy. But the process itself is always the same, which is basically, there is an investigation. And that investigation seeks to determine, given all the information, is it more likely than not the behavior occurred as reported? That's the preponderance of the evidence standard. That's typically what is used in these kinds of investigations and processes. Then somebody says, if the behavior occurred, as reported, or is more likely to have occurred, was the policy violated? And if the policy was violated, what action is appropriate, and who can take that action? So the process itself is always the same. Who handles each little piece of that process varies. You don't need to know all the details of that today. But the most important things are that there's an informal way to resolve concerns and a formal way. And they're not mutually exclusive. So if you wanted to try to resolve something informally and it didn't work, or the behavior continued, or it stopped and then it came back, anything like that, you can always move into the formal resolution process. Questions about that? All right. Who's my last one? Oh, that's right. Okay. The Go-Go's, yes. We started our workplace harassment policy journey with the 80s, and we're concluding it in the 80s. The Go-Go's had a bunch of songs. The lead singer in the middle, Belinda Carlisle, she had a solo career. The person to, I guess, behind her, Jane Whelan, I like it. Has anyone ever seen the movie Clue? She plays a singing telegram in that movie, which is hilarious. She played Joan of Arc in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. So the Go-Go's had a number of hits. Here's one of them. What that song surprise can you see the love see right through the What that song called Yes, Our Lips Are Sealed, one of their big hits. And much like the Go-Go's, when it comes to matters related to our workplace harassment policy, our lips must also be sealed. Section I in the policy talks about confidentiality. And confidentiality is something that is taken very seriously in this policy. So everything that happens is confidential. It cannot be shared. Anyone who has any knowledge of any process occurring under this policy, any details of complaints or the identities of any individuals, all of that stuff has to remain confidential. In fact, any documents created related to a process occurring or an inquiry under this policy are exempt from the Colorado Open Records Act. So in an environment like ours, maybe we don't want the media to have all the details of processes that are occurring at every moment and have the identities of complainants, right? So confidentiality is taken very, very seriously. In fact, the second to last piece in the whole policy says that violating confidentiality may serve as a violation of the policy itself. So confidentiality is taken as seriously as it possibly can be under the law. There are a couple of little exceptions. If a legislator is found to have violated the policy, then an executive summary is created that describes what happened and identifies only the legislator. If a legislator is found to have engaged in sexual harassment specifically, then there's more information that becomes available for public inspection. But we still have the right to redact and anonymize anybody else's identity. So if legislators violate the policy, they're identified, but nobody else is. Questions about that? All right. I'm going to give you the 25-second overview of the policy. To whom does it apply? Everybody. Everybody in this environment, pretty much. What is the scope of the policy? It is only behaviors that are based on protected classes. What's prohibited is workplace harassment and retaliation. There are a bunch of definitions that you should read. Reporting is super simple. talk to HR, you can resolve concerns informally or formally, and everything is as confidential as it possibly can be. Any questions about any of that stuff? Yeah, go ahead. The question is, what kinds of behaviors or actions could constitute retaliation under the policy. Well, the obvious things would be some kind of adverse employment action, but the policy says retaliation can be any action. Obviously, if it's direct action, that's pretty clear, but it also includes any action that could deter a reasonable person from filing a complaint as well. So retaliation does not have to be direct action. It could be anything that might deter a reasonable person from being willing to file a complaint under the policy. With retaliation, you have to be able to demonstrate that there's a causal connection, and that the biggest piece is that whatever the action is it has to be clearly connected to the protected activity filing the complaint or providing information as a witness or whatever What else? Yeah, go ahead. . Yes, if you're employed by a university and you're here for work study, this policy would cover you as a third party. In addition, your university, of course, has a bunch of rules and Title IX. So if you were to experience anything in this environment that could fit under this policy, talk to us and we'll work directly with your university to ensure that everything is handled appropriately, either via their process or via our process. What else? Any other questions about the workplace harassment policy? Yeah.
I have a quick statement for all of you guys. and they will always have so like talk to them and they'll help you go to the policy, they'll help you to the office so I'm still sure that I just have to get back to that. You can go on your phone.
Excellent. All right, well, I have one more policy to talk about. That was the workplace harassment policy. Now we're going to jump into what's called the workplace expectations of the General Assembly. And where you can find that is in all the same places. It's on the Colorado General Assembly website. You can ignore the little blurb that says NLO notebooks. It's in all the policy manuals. And you can get it from HR. You can ignore where it says OLWR. We are now LHRD. So expectations policy, all the same places. This is a much shorter policy. So rather than having sort of a different artist for every section, we've got one artist who covers the entire policy. Yes, Aretha Franklin. What you want, baby, I got it. What you need, you know I got it too. All I'm asking you is for a little respect when you come on. So the workplace expectations policy boils down to respect. And I'll run through it kind of in the same order. Starting at the top, to whom does it apply? All of the exact same people. So everyone in this room is covered by this policy. Well, I guess you're not technically covered by this policy. I apologize. Covers all staff, volunteers, legislators. And that's about where the similarities end. Instead of having a scope that is specific to protected classes, this policy seeks to address behaviors that are inappropriate, but are not unlawful harassment. So, you have somebody who's a jerk to everybody, right? They're not discriminating based on protected class, they're just wild jerks. The expectations would be the place where that would fall. Policy does list out some expectations, some expected behaviors for a professional and respectful work environment. In terms of reporting, it's also a little bit different and it's laid out in the policy. You can always come to us. Regardless of who the policy says you need to talk to, you can always come to HR first. If you had concerns about a non-partisan staff person, we in HR would be tasked with assisting you in resolving those concerns. If you had a concern about a partisan staff member or about a legislator, the policy says you have to go talk to the president of the Senate or the Speaker of the House, you can always still come to HR first. We can talk about your concerns, make sure that this is the right policy, then we can talk about how you can frame and present your concerns to if it's the Speaker of the House so that that person receives them in the best way they can and has the information they need to be able to assist you. Resolving concerns under this policy only occurs informally, so there is no formal resolution process intentionally flexible to allow us to address a big spectrum of possible behaviors that could fit under this policy. And it doesn't preclude us from investigating and those kinds of things. We're just not required to in the same way. And then finally, confidentiality is touched on in the last part of this policy. In the workplace harassment policy, confidentiality is a foundational backbone of the policy. It is absolutely required. Under this policy, confidentiality has to be requested. So I always take the stance that we treat things confidentially unless somebody says otherwise unless a complainant says otherwise. But if you had to go to the Speaker of the House, we'll just stick with that example. The first thing I would recommend is tell the Speaker what level of confidentiality you need because the policy doesn't automatically provide it. It says it can be requested. The policy also does not touch on Quora. The same Quora protections do apply, though, so documents created related to this policy are not subject to Quora. And the policy does not explicitly touch on retaliation in the same way as the harassment policy. But of course, engaging in any kind of retaliatory behavior would violate the expectations policy based on what those expected behaviors are anyway. So there's protection built in there as well. And that is the workplace expectations in a nutshell. Questions about that one? So we've got harassment policy covers unlawful harassment, expectations covers other behaviors that might be inappropriate but are not unlawful in that way. Excellent. Then that is all I have for you today. Does anybody have any other questions? Seeing none in person, seeing none online. Great. Well, moving forward, if you ever have questions, concerns, comments, anything like that, you're always welcome to contact us. Our email is just lhrd at coleg.gov. Our phone number is here. You can find it on the website, and you can always come visit us in person. And with that, thank you so much. I appreciate it, everybody.
Thank you.
Thank you Ben Yes thank you
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Perfect. Hello, everyone. My name is Trooper Cameron Gill, and I'm going to give you a quick over brief of the capital security and best practices while you're here in the building. So I kind of did a very large overhaul in the last presentation or last PowerPoint that I had. So excuse me if there's some I guess errors but we'll get through it. I basically looked at the EAP which is emergency action plan that we create every year at the beginning of the year for the year and specifically put things that are tailored to specifically you all from that EAP because it's a very large document and I can guarantee probably no one has read it. But thank you. But I took out big information out of there so that you guys know what to look for, what to do, and hopefully at the end of this it'll give you guys more confidence of if something does happen, what you should say, what should happen, what we expect from you guys. Um, it's not a lot, but you guys are kind of our eyes and ears of the entire building. You guys know this building more than literally anyone else, probably in the state. Um, so knowing what's normal versus what's not really stems on you goal. Um, not saying that's a, we rely on it, but you guys like you're a very, very valuable asset. so like i was kind of saying you guys have the crowds you guys have the people you guys see more people and talk to more people on a day-to-day basis than i'll see in a week um so you're kind of the front lines and again like i said you guys know the building um and people on the tours they will copy you you are basically their parent at that point um so if you're in the dome and something happens, they're all going to look to you, and you guys will be experts at that point. So a couple things that we're going to cover is who to spot, or who are we and how do you spot us, how to call for help, alerts and protective actions, evacuations, medical weather, and visitors who need help suspicious people and basically security starts with you guys This is our executive leadership So we have our major, Michael Ryan, Captain Kelby Siegfried. He's my captain. He kind of oversees all the protectees, the governor's protection detail, CTAP, and we'll get into that a little bit later. And then Captain Angela DeGaulle, she oversees all the uniform troopers. And then Security Manager William Culp, he oversees the security officers. And then anything that deals with, like, facilities.
So panic alarms, X-ray machines, glass breaks. So if you look at that little white box, that's a glass break. and then captain brandon nathlich he's our legislative liaison his office is right behind the post the security post that's right next to your guys's desk and room 100 he's usually never here outside of session but inside of session he'll always be walking around he'll rarely be in a uniform he'll usually be in a suit but he's a very easy face to find and then the sergeants down below. Jeremy Stark is my sergeant. He oversees our threat intel, our canine bomb sweeps or bomb dogs, GTTF, which is Joint Terrorism Task Force, and then the critical infrastructure protection. Sergeant Luke Penner, he's the sergeant that oversees the governor's protection detail. Blake White, he oversees other dignitary protections, so visiting dignitaries that may may not come to the Capitol, and Secretary of State, Attorney General, all of them. And then Clinton Collier, he's a sergeant over the uniform side. Sergeant Josh Lewis, same thing. And then Sergeant Alan Mintern. I'll give you guys a quick rundown of basically who I am. So I am the governor's office liaison, so I sit in the governor's office nine times out of ten. I also kind of oversee our critical infrastructure protection. So I go out there in a community and look at like hospitals, places of worship, sometimes people's houses, and just give them best practices and better ways to mitigate threats along their property. I'm always beep-bopping around here. I also do all these safety talks with everyone, almost too many groups. But so everyone here, everyone dressed like this, if you recognize a face and they're not in a uniform, they are more than willing to answer your questions. If you ever need help, feel free to reach out. Every trooper here is approachable and they will probably talk your ear off. So please, please, please don't be afraid to strike a conversation, ask a question. We're here for you. So obviously, call 911 if it's immediate threat. So if you see someone hitting somebody, fighting somebody, call 911. If your life is in imminent danger, call 911. That's the fastest way. Little asterisk there. It's a surefire way that will get help to you no matter what happens. It not a text or that is also a textable line so you can text a problem say your cell service is not getting out but you still have data You can text 911 and give them exactly what going on The fastest way to get help when you inside the building is take a picture memorize that number save it in your phone 303 That's the direct line to our dispatch, which is also a direct line to us. So if you call them, say, hey, I got this going on. Can you send a trooper? within seconds they're already dispatching a trooper to wherever you're at the 9-1-1 that goes to denver and then denver has to relay that to our dispatch and then our dispatch relays it to us so it's slightly slower but that's a um a surefire way of getting us um if you guys have badge access or any sort of access or another way to get hold of somebody that's the number to our hirsch system um so if you guys the parking garage for example if you something is weird about that either a call amanda mac any of them and they could probably figure out or for whatever reason you can call hirsch and then they can see it on the back end and see what's kind of going on and then obviously the panic alarm that's another surefire way for a trooper to come. We're coming regardless. If a panic alarm is hit, someone will come. Even if it's an accident, we're still going to show up. That's usually, I think every trooper will run to you because we don't know what's going on. However, don't be afraid to press it if you just need some assistance. It doesn't have to be like a huge emergency. Someone's dying to hit that button. You just need help with someone, something, anything, and you can't really relay it on the phone or you don't have access to your phone, hit the panic alarm, we'll come and we'll kind of assess the situation and see what's going on.
Is that the panic button? Is it your services?
It sure is. A hundred percent. So it's the little garage door looking thing, as you can see up there you have to press the two buttons on the side or the two buttons and you don't have to hold it you just press it and we will be coming um also if it's on like a little pressure pad so it it's almost like split in two so if the top part falls off there's a little spring inside that will also alert us to come so if you just bump it and then half of it falls off expect one of us to show up and then when we show up like hey this just fell off and then we'll call will and he'll figure it out. But I wanted to add this because there's a lot of confusion from everyone in the building of what dispatch needs and what will help us either respond to you better or get us prepared to whatever is coming. So where? Try to give exact locations. Like I said, you guys know the building better than anyone else, but don't say, like, I'm in room 0377, because we don't know where that is. And these room numbers, they don't work. Like, they're not smart with it, rather. So you could say, you know, obviously you're in the Capitol, or maybe you're not in the Capitol, but second floor or old Supreme Court. We all know where the old Supreme Court is or right outside the House chambers on the north side. We all know where that is. Yes?
I didn't see what I said.
So Amanda said that on each stairwell on the corners, it actually has a plaque that says, you know, Northwest Stairwell.
So if you panic, go over there. You can look at it and you can just read it to dispatch. what's going on try to not give them a large dissertation of exactly what's going on when and again stress levels will be high so you just want to kind of talk and you'll talk start talking fast and you'll start stuttering and all these things try to keep it one sentence super easy there's a guy doing drugs on the tour I promise you, you might experience that. And then who it is. Give description. Older gentleman with a red shirt, khaki pants, Broncos hat. That's not the worst thing I've heard. um yeah just give a very good description so if he does branch off we can still find him um we've had an incident before where either someone stole took there is a like a red bull bandit going around but we couldn't we couldn't find him we didn't know where he was what it was we never really had I guess good description or the descriptions were kind of flip-flopped so I say this, just try and give a clear description of at least like clear items, like a Broncos hat we'll find them or green socks, not a lot of people here are wearing green socks if you see weapons, whether if you see it, they start describing it or if it's even implied. All those things we want to know about definitely describe us like, hey, instead of like, oh, he had probably something poking out his pocket and it kind of looked like a gun. We're still going to show up quickly because just that G magic word. However, describe it. Was it black? Was it, what made you think it looked like a gun? Was it like imprinting? Give us more descriptions. And then if they disappear, where they went? Okay, I think they went down to the first floor. So we have a way to start our search. Okay, so along with like the evacuation and notification system, we have a system called Everbridge. So whenever there's a mass alert system, so evacuation, a fire, tornado, bomb threat, any of that stuff where we have to notify a large amount of people, now we use Everbridge as the system. So I assume all of you have been entered in unless you opted out of it. My understanding, even volunteers get access to it. yeah but you will get a notification on your phone just a quick text saying hey this is the state patrol oh we need you to evacuate the building it super annoying but bear with us and then your administration your administrator this is kind of more for Amanda and Mac and Michael is at the bottom so if you guys ever have questions or need to enroll someone that's the person you'll contact and then they can actually enroll them thank you so disregard that but so if you're on a tour and the point is if you're on a tour and they get a notification that hey you need to evacuate no one else is going to get it but you. So read it real quick, make the decision and start moving the group. A little bit differences on lockdown, lockout, shelter in place and evacuation. Lockdown is, that's the real deal. Everyone find a lockable room, get in it, lock the doors, stay there until help comes. Or if you're with a group, get the entire group in that room, lock the door, wait until help comes. Most lockable doors, so most of these committee rooms are lockable, so if you can just get inside, you'll be able to lock it. Lockouts means no one is allowed in, but people can leave on their own accord. So typically that's with like large, large protests that are starting to get a little antsy. We'll kind of initiate that, and then no one is allowed in, but people can leave if they so choose to. Shelter in place is basically wherever you're at, just kind of stay at. It's not as high as a lockdown, but it's just like stay away from the doors, stay away from windows. You can still do what you're doing, typing emails, just kind of hunker down a little bit. And then obviously evacuation, get out. Just leave your stuff and get out. during session we have kind of an issue with the evacuation process where some members and some aides don't get out and we check every single room so when i walk into a room and i see three college kids just hanging out just trying to hide i'm not too happy and i'm a very cheerful person except when people like blatantly disregard something as serious as this. We get evaluated as the state patrol and the Capitol gets evaluated as a building if this process fails or succeeds. So, for example, if the fire marshal were to come and see people just hunker down, A, we would get in trouble. B, the state of Colorado would get fined. And C, we would have to redo this whole process. And as you may think, nothing in state government goes quickly and legislators and the powers that be don't like either a change or hearing that now the capital and the state owes the city $150,000 for something that was preventable, easily preventable. So just encourage everyone to get out. Just get out. You don't have to come back in. Just go leave, go home, whatever. So a little bit specific to you guys Evacuating with the tour group So I don know if you guys keep numbers before Perfect So keeping the numbers and knowing the numbers So if you start a tour and you have 10 people, if something happens, kind of in your head, mentally count people and make sure that you, in fact, have 10. If you have nine, report that to Amanda, Teresa, Mac, Michael. And you're like, hey, I'm missing somebody on the tour. just so that they are aware and then we can kind of keep our eye out. Again, stop everyone, give them some commands so they're going to freak out. And we'll talk about this later. Stop, follow me, stay together. Always use the corner stairs. Don't go down the center staircase because that's like a funnel point. And when one person falls, everyone's going to tumble. And if it's a big, true evacuation process, that's a disaster. So we just try to avoid the center staircase, the grand staircase. Lead and sweep. So tour guide at the front. If you're with a school group, chaperone in the back. You're leading the way, and then they're collecting all the kids as your guys are going through. Go to the lawns and then recount. So if you're on a tour group, you're either A, going to go on the west lawn or the east side lawn. That's kind of up to your guys' discretion, whatever's easiest to get out. Once you get there, take another headcount of, in fact, everyone that you have on the tour is still there. And then report that to the, and I'll talk about this a little later, the floor leaders and then eventually the ERC. So report that up so that they know, A, you guys are out, and B, that everyone that you were with are also out. Now, if they don't want to listen to you, we are not telling you to make them leave. That is a problem that we will handle. So just let them know, like, hey, there's one person that is just not wanting to leave. So you're just going to take the rest of the group out, kind of, if you can, take a picture. and then send it to your floor leaders or just get a description send it to floor leaders they'll tell us and we'll make them leave here are the evacuation points so whoever is not on a tour or not actually doing a tour you're going to go to the third level of the parking garage near the elevators so leave go across the street we will block off the street so you don't have to play frogger so you'll just walk out walk across street and go to the third floor that's where you'll congregate a secondary spot so if the parking garage is compromised for construction or whatever that may be the secondary spot is the northwest lawn of the capital and then if you are on a tour like I said just go to one of the east or west sides of the lawn and then the fifth fourth and fifth floor is like a backup backup backup um evacuation point but you will be directed exactly where you will need to go so just default to third floor of the parking garage and east and west lawn if you're on a tour
Hi. Oh my goodness, that was really loud. A couple of questions, clarifications. The Merrick Garage is especially if there inclement weather you are allowed to take your tour groups over there They just don have to go Like they can leave if they want to leave and not come back into the Capitol
And then could you go over with us what we do if we have groups or guests that have any kind of mobility impairment?
I'll get there.
Okay, great.
Thank you. Yep. um so here your ERC your emergency response coordinator that's Teresa your floor leaders are Amanda and Mac I'll probably add Michael in there if you want and then there's roll calls but you kind of all are more or less roll call officers right so um the biggest part is was reporting that a you're out of the building and if you're on a tour you and the tour that you're with is out of the building they need to know that because then they can either a tell us like hey we're missing one tour guide we don't know where they're at and then we will look for said tour guide in the building um we don't care where you we're at. We just care you're not in the building. So as long as you're not in the building, we don't, like, I don't care if you're across the street, if you're at home. As long as you're just not in the building, we're looking for people that are missing and they were here today. We've had an incident before where we just couldn't find someone and they ended up going home early but we still look for them and that's a very critical step um god that is loud sorry um and to clarify just really quick for all of us and for everyone online please hear me when i say this
when there is an evacuation or a lockdown or whatever for our department specifically we will send out a text in the group chat and we will ask you where you're at and to check in with us you have to respond okay and there have been instances like cameron said where someone just went home that was one of our instances we couldn't find one of you and you weren't responding so we need you to reply in the group chat when there's an evacuation when there's a lockdown whatever you have to respond yeah even if you went home please respond just so we know that you are safe and that if you're having issues with something like if there's a guest that has some limited mobility or if you're in the dome with a group or whatever reply so that we can help you in addition to that if there is a lockdown and you're in the dome with a group you're behind a locked door so you can stay there just fyi if you have questions about that but i just wanted to make that noted anyway thank you um so if they don't for that instance where we couldn't find whoever it was we didn't open up the building until we got a confirmation on they are a not
in the building um because they may be under a chair or something and we go through every room but we might miss something so we still need that confirmation like oh yeah no i'm in this room i'll get out or I'm at home. And especially if it's during session, people get antsy very quickly. We have to open up the building quick. However, I will stop this whole process just to look for one person. And I have. It wasn't a good day for my major. However, I didn't care. So this is the new age run, hide, fight, right? So it's avoid, delay, defend. Just same thing, different branding. Avoid and stay away from doors. Get yourself into a locked room. Stay away from windows so people can't peek in. Deny, put things against the door. Try to lock it. Do whatever you can. and then defend as a very, very, very, very, very last resort. Defend yourself and do it with purpose. Fully commit to every action that you do. Think about this person is trying to harm you. Don't let that happen. Either you're harmed or they're harmed. In my professional opinion, I'd rather you guys go home than someone that is trying to hurt you, right? So do what you can. Like I said, committee rooms and 271 are lockable from the inside. So try to get there. Kids and groups like to freeze. They're just like deers with headlights. Like just look at them, point at people like, hey, follow me. And they will, got it. Okay.
And they'll just start. That's the only thing that they can think about is just following you.
and try to get ahead of the panic. Try to get control of the situation before it is hard to get control. Because a group that is now just running mad, trust me, it is very hard to wrangle them back in. People that can't use stairs. So people that are mobily impaired, there are three, well I guess technically four, areas of refuge. So they're the areas between the elevators. Bring that individual to that space. We will have a guard going to that space. So get there. If you can, wait with them or assign someone to wait with them. And then when a guard gets there, then you can evacuate. Once a guard gets there, They will notify us like, hey, I got one person on the third floor area of refuge. Then we can coordinate with fire and determine if they do, in fact, need to evacuate or they can stay put. If not, we have these like stair chairs that allow we'll put them in the chairs and allows them to go downstairs. chairs. I do not trust those things at all, but it's better than being cooked alive, right? So we have areas for them. For the dome specifically, just if you're up in the, I don't know how they'd get all the way up in the dome, but that's neither here nor there. But if they are up there and they can't get down for whatever reason, let us know. And then we will get up there and we will figure it out. If we have to bring them down ourselves, there's a chair up in that dome area as well. so there's actually three of them so right before you actually go up the dome stairs right at that door or one of the sides there is a chair, stair chair knowing where AEDs and medical equipment are there's always going to be one at a security post both AED and medical supplies If you ever need help in that regard you can just go to a security post and they will have one If you in the attic right under the stairs there should be an AED And then under the desk in the attic should be one. Third floor, the 355 has one. Old Supreme Court, right under the Sergeant of Arms desk, has medical supplies. and an AED, same with the House and Senate chambers, both have them. I think 271 has them. Obviously, the security post on the first floor. And then room 100 also has one where Captain Nathlich's office is, but I just try to get people, just go to the post. All your equipment's at the post. And then obviously, Sergeant Amar desk and 210, and then the security post for the basement. So, back to what I was saying, stop following me, stay together. This is a very, I wouldn't say well-known concept, but for law enforcement entities that are going to large buildings and trying to get people out, like in sporting facilities, concerts, all that stuff, that's just a madhouse. So in order to get people out and have them focus on you and give them clear directions, this phrase has been created. So basically what it is is tell them exactly what they need to do. Not, hey, don't run. Go to the stairs. Walk outside that door and walk outside the other door. Give them clear, clear, explicit directions. like I was saying earlier try to get ahead of the crowd before they start freaking out reassure them that help is coming so hey a trooper is on his way what I need you guys to do is just go around this table hunker down and we're going to wait there until the trooper comes gives them exactly what they didn't do so that gives them something to focus on and then try to clear a path. So instead of going outside of this door, just seeing that cluster creates panic. So if you're going to evacuate a room, try to find the path of least resistance, that door. And like I say, I'm pointing because I'm showing you guys, I'm like directing planes, like showing you exactly where to go. Suspicious people. that either go on tour or you just happen to see inside the building. First of all, if you guys, you guys have the right to refuse someone that wants to go on a tour for whatever reason, that is, that is up to you guys on how you want and we will support you in that endeavor. Right. To the point where if you guys cannot do your job because of a specific person that gives us the grounds to trespass them for the day. And then if they come back and continue, then they can be charged. So we really lean on you guys, and we are here to support you. So if there's a specific person that just is adamant going on a tour, and you can't do your job as a tour guy to give everyone else a great tour because of this one person, we will help you, and we will help them out of the building. Yes.
What if you're on a tour and somebody's recording you and you don't really feel comfortable with that? Do you have the right to say I don want you to record me Or you just because sometimes I stop or I try to turn Because sometimes I like I think they recording me because I have their phone up They don think I notice but I do
Yeah, that's a really hard one. So you can ask them to stop recording you. However, making them, you can't – like, yeah, you can't make them, we can't make them unless it is like a restricted area. So if you guys end up going or you tell them like, hey, no cameras here, no recording, please, blah, blah, blah, whatever it is. And then they decide to do it. Then we have more grounds to get them out. However, it's a very sticky.
Right.
We're not going into restricted areas, so we can't tell people that they're not allowed to film. You can ask them, and if you feel uncomfortable, you can have one of the full-time staff people come and either switch out with you or whatever just to help out. But we're not going into restricted areas with our tours.
But does that also cover the...
we're in a public building and specifically in the capital which means that people can come in and they can record it's sort of like a blanket thing if that makes sense so if you specifically aren't comfortable being recorded or if there's a first amendment auditor for those of you who don't know those are people who come in um and are somewhat difficult because they're they feel that they are defending their right to the first amendment specifically free speech um but if that happens just call one of us and we will switch out and then you don't have to worry about it but like if someone's recording on a tour and you don't want to be recorded we'll come switch out with you and we'll get recorded um if it's a first amendment auditor thing we will be switching out with you, no questions asked, and calling State Patrol. The whole purpose of First Amendment auditors is to get us. We are their target. There's a couple that frequent down here, and they ask for specific troopers because they know they can get a rise out of them, or they're just their target. They don't know I exist, which is great, and I would love to keep it that way. However, I've talked with First Amendment auditors. I've talked with sovereign citizens in the governor's office and killing them with kindness, honestly. So if you're being recorded, you're the most nicest person in the world. They have nothing to – they look stupid if they're going to start asking you just random questions that you may or may not have the answer to. and right now we're in a very political era since we're getting starting the election cycle um i had one party affiliate come down here and i guess they took a tour and from that tour they gathered information that the reason why the president portraits were taken down. It was because Governor Polis told them to take it down because of something. And the admin that sits at the desk is like well I don know Let look at a press release Well there nothing here And then I pop on out and I tell them it not why at all We just trying to bring Colorado back to Colorado They may go up they may not, but trying to figure out that process. And they're like, oh, that's not what we heard. And as soon as they left, they put on their campaign hat and walked on out. So they're going to have phishing questions. Just don't lay into it. Just say, I don't know. And if you don't know, you don't know. Or if you do know and you say, I don't know, they don't know that.
Are there any other questions on that one specifically? Do you say First Amendment auditors
are passionate about protecting the First Amendment? They're just random people. Yeah. There is no such thing as a true First Amendment auditor. They're just people that will go into a building like this or they see cops doing cop stuff and they'll come up and just start recording. And when they record, they're obnoxious with it. It's one thing if you're just recording from a distance, cool. And they have the 100% right to do that. Once they start getting, like if I'm dealing with something and they're right next to me recording me, like that's a problem because now I have to put my attention on them and not whatever I'm dealing with. But they will do that. And then when I tell them, hey, pound sand, kick rocks, then that's when they're like, oh, yeah, no, you're going to get sued. I'm going to have your paycheck. And that's their whole purpose. And they're very loud. So you will know when you are experiencing a First Amendment auditor. I promise.
Yes. So say that an auditor is it?
Yes, an auditor.
Okay, say that you're on a tour and they're doing the fishing sort of thing and they just keep going. They won't stop even if you tell them, okay, you're off the tour. Do we call security in that case?
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, so in that case, first and foremost, if you're impeded from doing your job, then your first call is to state patrol, but your second is to us. once that happens if they're just harassing you if they're being like disruptive if whatever call us and we're going to switch out with you until state patrol gets there because none of you as volunteers or work study are paid to deal with that so um call us immediately call state patrol immediately and then you can just ski daddle you don't have to stay so um that's exactly right so if they're just constantly berating you with questions like questions that aren't tied to the tour at all um so if they're starting to ask you like hey you know i see a lot of cops around here do you know the shift changed or they're posted like fishy questions right they just start braiding you and braiding you like hey i'm trying to do a tour um if you have a question about the tour of the building i'm i'm all ears but that stuff like i don't know anything about can you Please just refrain that to someone else. Or at the end of the tour, I can get someone to assist you with those questions. Kill them with kindness. Go on the tour. That's their first warning. Go on the tour. If they ask it again, like, hey, if you continue this, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the tour. Save the questions until the end. That's the second warning. These are important. if they continue to do it, on the third one, call dispatch, tell them exactly where you're at. You can even say, you know what, I will get someone here I can help you with your questions. I'll dispatch, tell them exactly where you're at, and then call the actual staff to kind of let them know kind of what's going on. We will get there. And if I get there, my first question is like, okay, what's going on? You're asking questions. Okay, are you hindered from doing your job? And if you say yes, and I say, okay, why? This is also important because it has to be reasonable. Just saying like, oh, because he's just asking questions. I can't do anything with that. But if you say he's asking all these irrelevant questions that don't have anything to do with the tour, and it's causing a disturbance to everyone that's trying to enjoy the tour, and now I am late doing a different tour or whatever. Say something like that, great. You're out. You can record me kicking you out. Let's go. And at that point, once we get there, they're our problem. so like Max said just get help there you guys don't get paid for it even they don't get paid to deal with that and we will we love those opportunities
sorry if I may
the reason that we also have you guys call us is so that you're not dealing with this in front of your tour group we will remove your group once state patrol gets there so that there's not, you know, the peanut gallery watching this happen. The same goes for any medical emergencies. You'll call state patrol and you'll call us. But once they arrive, you need to move your group so that, you know, someone who just fell and is bleeding from their head doesn't have 30 other people looking at them. Okay. So just remember to move your group once some help arrives. One other thing. really even if you guys get a bad vibe you don't have to call Cameron first or state patrol first you can call us and say this guy he's asking weird questions I feel weird we'll come and help and then we can start doing those very specific steps to help out Cameron but and it can also be there's a lot of different things we can do we can peel the person off and start answering their questions while we get in touch with Cameron when you call us. If someone has a medical emergency, you call them, you call us. We come and stay with the person so you can go on. We're not asking you to sit there with someone who's injured or whatever. We're going to work together, but definitely your first line of defense, even if you feel weird, is to call us and then we can help. And if you forget, that's also okay. Do what Cameron's telling you. But if you are feeling nervous about something, you can also at any point in the tour call us um also if that happens and if you let me know as well i'm usually in plain clothes i'll go on a tour i don't mind going on tour i've done it before because someone just weirded the guard or the guide out and then i will start weirding them out i'll start falling really close um and then eventually we'll get to that point where i'm like all right, I'll announce who I am and then we'll go from there. But that's always an option. You have a lot of different options. It's kind of up to you and your comfortability, right? But yeah, some of the things that we would look for is people that just like hang back. They just drift off. They disappear from the group They start taking pictures of like restricted areas or employee entrances um again asking really random weird questions they leaving a bag somewhere um or again just behavior things that normal guests don't say or do and again you all know what's normal on a tour or tour and what is not normal. You have seen a lot of different stuff and you will see a lot of different stuff. So you'll kind of get the vibe of this building and kind of this area. Bomb threats and suspicious items. Obviously, if there's something around the capital complex that you just see, don't touch it. Call us. Try to not use your phone or anything around near it. Remove yourself and then call or tell somebody, and then we'll go and check it out. Written threats. If you guys get like a note or anything from the mail and it looks weird, it has something in it, just leave it there. You don't move. Try to get everyone else that isn't exposed by whatever that letter package is. because at that point, if it is something bad, we don't want you dropping it, and now you're walking around contaminating everything else. So just stay with it. Don't touch it. Put it down. Stay with it. And start letting people know, hey, this is what I see. I am here. There's no one else. We can respond accordingly. Nine times out of ten, it's nothing. However, we're trying to get that 1%. and then phone threats earlier this year we had someone call in and it was a legit person and it was a real thing that said that he put a bomb in the building and it's going to go off at 2 o'clock what do you do with that information right personally if I was just got on the phone I'd heard that alright buddy and I'd hang up Like, yeah, don't do that. But in that situation, if you do pick up the phone and it's somebody that says that, one of three things. One, it's either just a robotic, it's fake, it's a thing called what we call swatting, where someone's calling in something to see a response. Or they'll call it in and wait for the media headline. Colorado State Capitol evacuated on a bomb threat and they can see their aftermath. A lot of this stems from people on different servers like Discord or something that pay people to do these things. So they will try to get a rise out of a specific building, a specific entity, a school, whatever it is. And then they can see it and then they get paid for it. um two is someone that is trying to get a rise because either a they want to they're planning something b they're actually trying to get money or extort something or c they're trying to get people out to actually cause an attack um and then three which is very very very rare is that they actually do have a bomb in the building and it is going to go off at 2 o Now the legitimacy of that third one has never happened Ever. Has never happened. And if you think about it, I'm not going to call a building, let them know there's a bomb going off, unless there's something else I want. If I'm going to put a bomb in a building, I want mass casualties. I don't want people knowing. I'm not going to warn them that a bomb's in the building. So that's why we're kind of thinking like, okay, if you're calling in, there's a bomb in the building. Is there anyone else outside? Let's try and find out if there is in fact a bomb or whatever their story is relevant before we start evacuating people. That's kind of what's going through our head. So with that being said, the biggest thing that can help us, and again, we're not telling you to do this, but it helps us out. So if you do pick up the phone, someone says, hey, I have a bomb in the building. It's going to go off at 2 o'clock. Well, okay. Why? Oh, it's because I need to talk to somebody. Okay, give me a second so I can get someone you can talk to. At that point, once you hear there's a bomb in the building, there should be a note, a phone, someone saying like, hey, I have someone on the phone saying that there's a bomb in the building. Get state patrol here. Hit the panic alarm. Get something, right? So we can get one of us to come down there to start the conversation with the person. So once you get that process going, try to keep them talking. All right, cool. What's your name so I can get you the right person to talk to? That's another good thing to have is their name. And they'll tell you their name if it's a real thing. They'll tell you their name. You're like, okay, cool. Tony, where is the bomb? Oh, it's on the fourth floor. Okay. We don't have a fourth floor. So that's strike number one. That's how you know, like, okay, we probably don't have a bomb in the building. Or they're like, oh, it's outside the office where all the receptionists sit. okay, it's very specific, or it's in a trash can. Like, try to get those things. So if you do get, like, oh, it's in, now if they say something specific, it's like, oh, it's in the dome. Like, okay, person has been here before. They know who they're calling. Now that gives us some more, I guess, ammunition to when we talk to them, we can kind of go down our checklist. And the biggest thing, after you get a hold of us, the biggest thing is just don't don't go on like social media saying like hey this is happening at work don't do that please please do not do that because if legislation hears if it's during session if people start hearing that oh there's a bomb in the building we no longer have control of the narrative we no longer can triage it figure out if it's real before we start sending people out of the building at that point once it gets out in the ether we we have to let people out and if it is a secondary attack that's something that we are ill prepared for is getting everyone out of the building as fast as possible and getting a whole bunch of resources in to find said bomb and to keep everyone getting out safe so i beg of you just let it ride out maybe at the end of the week then you can start sharing it We really want this information close to our chest at least while we doing what we doing Because that incident, the one I'm kind of talking about, the bomb, there's a bomb in the building, it's going off at 2 o'clock, was a real thing. Happened earlier this year. Amanda was the poor soul that talked to him. And he was a real person. Moral of the story, he called here. He said he put a ball in the building and he wanted $100,000 in a car. He lived in New York. He used to live in Colorado, but that was like 10 years ago. He did feel bad for making Amanda feel bad and scared. But also Amanda kind of made him feel these words, which I love.
yeah no Amanda was kind of badass
this is why none of you answer the phone okay on the off chance that for some reason something compels you to pick up the phone and this is what's happening obviously Cameron has told you what to do but you guys don't answer the phones even if you see like Teresa's extension or mine or Amanda's or Michael's, just leave it. And whoever, which one of the four of us is at the desk, say, oh, Teresa's calling. Let us answer that. Okay. You guys, please do not answer the phones. Use the phones to call state patrol or any other relevant agency in that regard. Okay. Cool. It's not usually mom-friendly. Yeah. Also, we're not trying to scare you. This is just to prepare you on the off chance that something like this happens. happens, I will say I've had a disproportionate amount of bomb threats in my seven years here. However, this is just so that everyone is prepared, especially those of you who have been a volunteer or work study for a long time. You know that instances like these are few and far between, if at all. So don't be frightened. I'm just giving you all the bad stuff. So if the bad stuff happens, you're prepared for it versus giving you the more realistic stuff. And then when the bad stuff happens, you're like, ah. But like they said, a lot of stuff I'm telling you today is very, like, one of the worst of the worst, right? The most realistic thing you'll see is all those people coming in, they'll spout some nonsense, they just want to be heard, and then they'll walk off. You guys will meet Jerome. He just likes to talk. you don't know what he's saying or what it's about, but he just likes to talk. And that's all he, sometimes he's agitated, but he calms right back down. He always comes in, goes to the governor's office, talked with me or Tyler for a little bit, goes up to Senate president's office, talks with their staff for a little bit, wanders down, walks around and leaves. That's 99% of the time what you guys will experience. Protests. They happen. We're at the Capitol, so just expect it, right? For most of them, they're very small. All of them have been very, very peaceful. But they're large, and they're intimidating. That's basically all it is. A large group of people come down to the Capitol, scream and shout whatever they want, try to do pass on a message, whatever it is. Um, they very, very, very rarely approached staff and accost them. Very, very, very rarely do any of that. However, if you are worried about, you know, crossing the street, going to your car, leaving the building, you can ask one of us and we could escort you to your car. We'll just walk with you and make sure none of that happens. Um, when you do walk out, if you really don't want to just walk out incognito, just take off your, um, name plate, put it in your pocket. So they just think you're just the average Joe. but they're more or less peaceful. When it turns into something that is less than peaceful, we will let you guys know. My team specifically kind of tracks these events and gatherings, and we actually have contacts with each large event, asking questions like, hey, how long are you going to be here? What do you expect? We're trying to make sure everyone here is safe, including them. And they also don't want to cause a disturbance. Like they don't want their movement being on the news, social media, destroying the Capitol. They don't want that. So they work well with us and we work well with them. yeah so if it does be turn into like a civil unrest or riot if it's a civil unrest you guys will know usually it's a protest that's already here that's starting to get a little squirrely right we'll let you know that's a situation where it's like a lockout um you guys can leave but we're not letting anyone else in if that protest group starts to funnel in um the rule of the building is no signs. No signs, no shirts that have any sort of political affiliation to it. The building itself needs to be neutral. That's typically what I tell them, that the building is neutral and it's a place where they can be heard. So that's why you can't bring in signs, propaganda, any of that stuff and that will be stopped at the security post. If you guys see someone start slipping things in and they start like putting things on, you know, railings or putting stickers places, let us know. Sooner the better, because that's a big thing. The biggest part of that is like this building is a historical building, and they start putting stickers just to remove the stickers. If that damages the paint or whatever, that's a charge. And depending on what type of paint it is, if it's some old dusty paint that we can't get and it's super historical and DPA has to do man hours. We calculate every single dollar and whatever that dollar amount for a sticker can mean a felony. And we will 100% charge that. I like the building and I will always fight for the building. Members? I'm just kidding. But if someone defaces the building, we want to know about that. And we've had people come and put stickers they on a tour they don know and they just struggling in the back just putting on propaganda stickers or taking a Sharpie and Sharpying things And by the time we leave and we come I like oh how did this get here And we look on camera and we find out, oh, it was on a tour, it's this, this, this. That's how we kind of mitigate it, but I would like to stop it before it gets to be a large problem. So, and then riots. At that point, we kind of know if a protest is probably going to turn dark quickly just because of the buildup to it. And we will let every leadership of the building know. So if they want to come to work, it is up to them. But we probably advise just take some vacation. Just don't come in. But again, we will know that nine times out of ten before the protest even happens because of the elevated, I guess, temperature of what's going on. For example, October 17th, it's a Saturday. That's our next No Kings. So leading up to that, you're going to see more people coming up to the Capitol. So you guys are aware. and then just everyday best practices um be aware just be aware of your surroundings um i know it's hard to walk around this very dry city and you guys are all busy people take the time to just don't look at your phone when you're crossing the street be aware of how close you are to the street when you're on the sidewalk because i've seen a lot of people hop the curve because people can't drive these days. And I would don't want you guys getting hit because you're just not paying attention. Also, just be aware of who's around you. If you just feel off, always trust your sixth sense. If you feel off and you're walking in the building, don't be sneaky. Turn around, look back and make eye contact. That's usually kind of mitigates that sort of either threat or something that could have happened. And when you're walking in the building, no piggybacking. If you're walking inside of a door, don't piggyback. A lot of you guys will go through the security post anyway, so there's not much piggybacking to be had. However, if you do have access cards to get inside the building, don't hold the door open. sorry guys um this is also where you guys are the eyes and ears if you see someone holding a door open like on the west side or on the south side up the stairs not through a normal security entrance call us right away we've had a little bit of a problem with this with photography lately where one or two people will go in and then they'll hold the door for the people to come in so they don't have to go through security so please if you see that let us know right away because the other thing is i caught somebody last couple weeks ago doing that and then just some other random guy also came in with that group so we just really want to be very careful of that let us know you don't have to like tackle them or anything but please let us know Please don Don Please don But if you do decide to confront them saying like hey can I help you find something that easily is like oh I just looking for the entrance Okay, well, it's downstairs. That's just an easy way. Or if they're like, oh, no, I'm just getting in the building. You guys don't have to ask for badges. That's not your job. That's our job. even if they are employees and they're holding doors open. That's a conversation I would love to have with that member. Now, it's different if you do know the person. And this is kind of that catch-22, right? Our building is only as secure as the people inside want it to be. If, A, you do know that they still work here and they are a part of this environment, sure, hold it open. However, if something happens and we review camera and something bad happens and we know now that you held the door open, we're going to have a conversation with you as well. Our conversations aren't fun and they're very awkward. So just don't be a part of it. Take really, really, really good care of your name plaques. If you lose it, let someone know. please please please let someone know because anyone on the street will take your name tag put it on them and now they just walk through security people aren't dumb they can see who it can bypass security and who can't and them just taking your name badge nameplate name badge whatever it is they can now have the keys to the kingdom so please if you lose it just let someone know sooner the better and then obviously if you want an escort anywhere on capital grounds outside of the building um let us know call dispatch a trooper will will walk with you it's never a hindrance on us we like to walk around we need to walk around um that's just a service will always provide. This is a good slide to take a picture of, screenshot, do whatever you can. It's a quick thumb notes of basically whatever I just said. The most important thing on this slide is dispatch's number. That's your 411. That's if you need help. That's if you have a question. You can honestly ask them anything. Hey, is Trooper Gill here? Can he come to the desk? Sure, and they'll get a hold of me. That is the holy grail right there. Yes, if you need anything on Capitol grounds, even if you just need, I wouldn't say like super far away, but if you're not near the Capitol, but near enough, and you call dispatch like, hey, this is going on at the History of Colorado, that's another way to get help to wherever that is. So that's the most important thing on this slide is that number. Does anyone else have any questions? My email is up there. If you have any questions, feel free to email me. I try to be very punctual with my emails. Again, I work in the governor office so if you ever just pop on by like hey is Cam here I come on out I can hear over the little fake wall And then if you guys are ever I keep promising this and it never ends up happening but if you guys ever want to see the new renovated governor's office, I will try to formulate it to where the gov isn't there and we can just walk on in and take pictures. So let me see if he's even here. oh yeah that that's just shoot me an email if you see me on passing like hey do you know if it goes in anytime this week or next week is or is there a good time where we can set something up i didn't
um i just wanted to say really quickly i know that this is a lot of information, both HR and security, and it's a lot to remember. You all have really unique positions here working at the state capitol, and it's not like any other volunteer
position or work-study position. So thank you all very much for your hard work and for, you know, attending all of this and taking it in, because we know it's a lot. You guys all do a really amazing job. So thank you. I guess another caveat, like be your biggest advocate. So if you need help of any sort, let one of us know we can figure out. If you need to reach HR for anything, be your biggest advocate. Ask questions. You don't know what you don't know. So we'll go into them, ask them like, hey, what are the next steps? Hey, this happened, whatever. What are the next steps? Work with them. If so be it, come to us. Let us know, like, hey, this happened. What should I do? Be your biggest advocate. We can't help you if you don't ask for it. Ask for help. I say that to my wife all the time. Ask for help. It's not a bad thing. Thank you. Thank you.