State Patrol seeks public feedback

Colorado is an amazing place to reside, visit and recreate! As chief of the Colorado State Patrol, I have the honor of leading a statewide law enforcement agency that provides a range of services to keep our communities, particularly our roadways, safe.

We conduct a public survey every two years to answer a simple question: “How are we doing?” We want to ensure that our members and organization provide Colorado with the best service and support as we fulfill our mission to save lives. We also want to ensure we are living up to our core values of honor, duty and respect.

The online survey is open from Sept. 8 to Sept. 25, 2026. The Colorado State Patrol is always striving to provide the best service and experience, and with your help, we can be even better. I hope you will complete the survey at http://www.cspsurvey.org.

I encourage you to be candid with your feedback so that all the Colorado State Patrol members and I can better understand how we’ve met or exceeded your needs. More importantly, we can learn how to improve.

We want to know how safe you feel traveling on Colorado’s highways and how you view the professionalism of our members and our services at the State Patrol.

Completing this survey should take about three minutes. We want to hear your thoughts.

This is a statewide survey, so we hope people from every region of the state participate. This will give us the insight we need to move forward. Please share the link to this survey with your friends and family. Anyone who has interacted with a trooper, port of entry officer, emergency dispatcher or professional staff member can help by sharing their experience.

I thank you in advance for your participation. What you say matters to me and helps drive future changes at the Colorado State Patrol.

Col. Matthew Packard, Colorado State Patrol

Protect Colorado’s hunting and fishing traditions

Colorado’s hunting and fishing traditions are more than recreational activities. They are part of our connection to the land, our wildlife and the generations of Coloradans who came before us. That is why I support Amendment 83, which would establish a constitutional right to hunt, fish and harvest fish and wildlife by traditional methods.

Amendment 83 is not about overturning Colorado’s existing hunting regulations. It isn’t about bringing back trapping or changing specific seasons or management decisions. Those issues should continue to be addressed through Colorado’s wildlife management process and guided by sound science.

This is about something bigger: protecting the opportunity to hunt and fish for future generations. I want my nephew to have the same experiences I have had in the great state of Colorado.

As Colorado’s population grows and attitudes toward hunting and fishing change, these traditions face increasing pressure. What is accepted today should not be assumed to be guaranteed tomorrow.

We should be able to respect wildlife, support conservation, follow responsible regulations and still recognize that hunting and fishing are legitimate and important parts of Colorado’s heritage.

Protect what we have. Protect Colorado’s outdoor heritage. Vote yes on Amendment 83.

Maxim Rand, Glenwood Springs

School-zone safety needs attention

I am writing this letter to make our community aware of a young Glenwood Springs Elementary School student who was hit this past Tuesday by a car that ran a stop sign in a school zone one block from school, at 10th Street and Pitkin Avenue. You read that right: A woman ran a stop sign and hit a child in a crosswalk in a school zone!

While the child did not sustain life-threatening injuries, the child was transported from the scene by ambulance. This is the second recent serious vehicle injury involving GSES pedestrians on their school commute. In November 2024, a parent walking home from school drop-off was struck at 10th Street and Grand Avenue.

My question is, what comes next? First an adult is struck, then a child is struck and sent to the emergency room. Does someone have to be fatally injured for a change to occur?

One solution is having a code enforcement officer or another GSPD officer spend 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon acting as a crossing guard. Our kids and parents would sure appreciate the backup!

Another solution is designating and branding 10th Street from Palmer Avenue to School Street as a 10th Street Safe Walking Corridor featuring extra safety infrastructure. Creating a Safe Walking Corridor would be a long-term asset for the GSES community, as well as for hundreds of downtown residents.

I appreciate the city’s safety plan and want our leaders to implement everything in their power to create a designated route that helps increase safety measures for kids trying to walk to school in their own neighborhood.

Connie Geiman, Glenwood Springs