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Steamboat Springs — A special prosecutor is investigating whether two Steamboat Springs police officers acted improperly when obtaining a search warrant last month, local police officials said.

Public Safety Director J.D. Hays said Wednesday a prosecutor from the Ninth Judicial District, which covers Pitkin, Rio Blanco and Garfield counties, was investigating two officers he would not name.

The investigation began after Hays learned one of the officers might not have followed procedure during an investigation, he said.

"(The officer) came to me and told me he might have made a mistake," Hays said.

"My immediate response was to have (Capt. Joel Rae) call the District Attorney's Office to tell them what we had been briefed on. It was handled within 10 seconds."

Hays said the officer came to him Nov. 28.

"We are looking into this situation from an administrative standpoint to determine if policy and procedure was followed," he said. "The other investigation being conducted is to determine if (the officer) has broken any laws."

Assistant District Attorney Kerry St. James said in a written statement that, "Supervisors within the police department expressed concerns about the sequence of investigatory events that preceded the obtaining of the search warrant itself.

"The affidavit that supported the search warrant request did not refer to all of the events that preceded the warrant request."

St. James said the circumstances created a "situation which required review of the process by which the search warrant was obtained." However, prosecutors or investigators from the 14th Judicial District could not review the propriety of obtaining the search warrant of the subsequent search because "to do so might cause the appearance of impropriety."

Phil Walter, the lead investigator with the Ninth Judicial District, was assigned to the investigation but had since been terminated from his job in that district, Hays said.

Further complicating the matter is the transition from ousted Ninth Judicial District Attorney Colleen Truden to District Attorney-elect Martin Beeson.

On Dec. 13, Truden became the first district attorney in Colorado's history to be recalled from office.

Beeson is slated to take office Jan. 6.

In the meantime, Truden is handling cases, but she would say only that the investigation into the conduct of Steamboat Springs officers was ongoing.

"We are in the middle of a transition right now," she said. "I am sure the DA-elect will assess the situation there and assign an appropriate investigator."

Hays said such investigations could take from a few months to a year to complete, especially with the turmoil in the Ninth Judicial District.

Hays said his internal investigation would not go forward until he knew more about the criminal investigation.

Neither officer has received any disciplinary action, Hays said.

"I'll cross that bridge when I get there," he said. "This kind of stuff happens at police departments all the time. It just happens," he said.

"People call all the time to accuse our officers of misconduct because they didn't want to get a ticket or they didn't want to get arrested."

Hays said the incident had not affected the police department and he had heard very little comment about the situation from other officers.

"This particular officer came to me," Hays said. "He came forward with what he had done.

"I will take that into account, that I don't have an officer who's a liar," he said.

St. James said department administrators handled the situation correctly.

"This is a situation in which the (police department) should be commended for their concern and forthright revelation of that concern to the District Attorney's Office," he wrote.

Hays said St. James has sent a letter to area defense attorney's alerting them to the special investigation. The officers have not been removed from witness lists or from testifying in any other cases because of the investigation.

The case for which the officer obtained the search warrant since has been dismissed from Routt County District Court.

The court file shows District Judge Paul McLimans signed the file earlier this month dismissing the case based on "suppression issues."

Hays said the last time a similar incident occurred here was in the early 1980s when officers were called to a home on Burgess Creek Road to assist Denver police officers in recovering a stolen computer.

Hays said the officers knocked on the resident's door, were invited in and looked around the home from their vantage point in the foyer, finding the computer. That instance was deemed an illegal search because the officers looked around the home without having a warrant, Hays said.

--To reach Alexis DeLaCruz, call 871-4234 or e-mail adelacruz@steamboatpilot.com