Two things happened last year that are changing the face of law enforcement. George Floydâs death while in custody of Minneapolis police triggered a national wave of reforms concerning how police officers do their jobs and the COVID-19 pandemic forced courts, prosecutors and jail administrators to reduce jail populations to allow for better social distancing. The steps that Mesa County officials took to reduce the jail population have been so effective that an expensive jail expansion no longer appears imminent. Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein started two pretrial alternative programs to keep nonviolent offenders out of jail as they await disposition of their cases.