The Colorado Rangers Law Enforcement Shared Reserve (CLER), known publicly as the Colorado Rangers, is a statewide police agency in the U.S. state of Colorado. It is a statewide law enforcement reserve of sworn POST-certified peace officers who serve as force multipliers, allowing Colorado law enforcement agencies to reduce costs and manpower through a shared force. It is the only such statewide police reserve force in the United States. The Colorado Rangers have existed in some capacity since Colorado Territory's formation in 1861, though the modern agency was formed in 2017 from the Colorado Mounted Rangers.
Colorado Rangers with an array of American flags.
Colorado Ranger patrol vehicles.
A Colorado Ranger meeting.
Colorado Ranger interacting with the public.
Colorado is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Colorado borders Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas to the east, Oklahoma to the southeast, New Mexico to the south, Utah to the west, and meets Arizona to the southwest at the Four Corners. Colorado is noted for its landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers, and desert lands. Colorado is one of the Mountain States and is often considered to be part of the southwestern United States. The high plains of Colorado may be considered a part of the midwestern United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is the eighth most extensive and 21st most populous U.S. state. The United States Census Bureau estimated the population of Colorado at 5,877,610 as of July 1, 2023, a 1.80% increase since the 2020 United States census.
The ruins of the Cliff Palace of Mesa Verde, photographed by Gustaf Nordenskiƶld in 1891
Great Kiva at Chimney Rock in the San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado. It was built by the Ancient Pueblo peoples.
The Canyons of the Ancients Visitor Center & Museum in Dolores
Mount of the Holy Cross, photographed by William Henry Jackson in 1874