A proposed city charter amendment to put a police and sheriff accountability office on par with those and many other Denver departments will be on the Nov. 8 city ballot.

Denver City Council voted 9-0 Monday night, Aug. 15, with four council members absent, to place a question on the ballot that would make the Office of Independent Monitor a permanent office. Council members Kevin Flynn, Paul Kashmann, Deborah “Debbie” Ortega and Rafael Espinoza were absent.

Backers, such as the Denver Justice Project (DJP), said the move would help protect the office from being dismantled and improve transparency and accountability.

Prior to the city council meeting, the DJP organized a late Monday afternoon rally for police accountability on the east steps of the City and County building.

Project co-founder Alex Landau told a small but supportive crowd  – many holding signs that read “Attention Denver City Council: Listen to your community. Vote to ensure independent oversight” – that the charter amendment would help “transform the practices of law enforcement and help us seek racial justice. And it won’t cost us as taxpayers a cent more.”

Lisa Calderon, co-chair of the Colorado Latino Forum’s Denver chapter, said she disputed a recent statement by Mayor Michael Hancock that the changes being made in the city police department made it a national model for police reform.

“No, Mr. Mayor, Denver is not a national model,” Calderon said. “When we stop having people killed at funeral homes and at stop lights, maybe then we’ll be a national model for reform.”

Nathan Woodliff-Stanley, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, said officer misconduct, sometimes with tragic results, is a real issue.

“It’s not just a case of a few bad apples,” Woodliff-Stanley said. “Some positive steps have been taken, but we need to see more because the underlying issues are systemic and widespread.”

In separate interviews with The Colorado Statesman, Landau said while the charter amendment is not”a magic wand, it’s an important step towards the many we need in our walk for justice.”

Woodliff-Stanely said he was not aware if Denver would be the first major city to take a step like this related to police accountability and reform.

Violent incidents led to office creation

After five shooting incidents involving Denver officers in 2003, the City and County of Denver created the OIM, which began its work in 2005. The office is the only independent entity in Denver involved in police misconduct investigations. A DJP Facebook post said without it, police misconduct and abuse investigations would be controlled entirely by the police themselves.

The office is the only non-law enforcement entity to make recommendations to Denver’s executive director of safety, chief of police and sheriff regarding discipline of uniformed personnel and how they are held accountable in cases of misconduct and abuse.

Currently, the office exists through city ordinance, which means Hancock or any future Denver mayor could eliminate the office. DJP and other community activist groups and citizens worked with Denver City Councilman Paul Lopez to develop language to strengthen the office and ensure its continued existence by adding it to Denver’s city charter through an amendment on the Nov. 8  ballot.

Lopez sponsored the council move to place the proposed charter amendment before voters and said during the meeting that it was not intended to be seen as anti-police or anti-sheriff.

“This gives the city and its officers the tools to do the jobs we honor them for,” he said. “We need to help get our community to the point where it we don’t fear our officers. The only people who should be afraid of our police are the ones who commit crimes.

“You have to have great policing, great transparency and accountability,” Lopez added. “And this falls on all of us, not just those who wear a badge or a pin on a lapel. Citizen oversight is essential. It takes a partnership between those on the police force and our citizens.”

Lopez and supporters noted that in 2015, the city spent $295,000 to hire the Chicago consulting firm Hillard Heintze and the OIR Group of Los Angeles to review policies and practices inside Denver jails.

In a 294-page document, the consultants issued 14 findings and 277 recommendations for change. One recommendation was to include an independent body such as the OIM in the city charter.

Supporters seek accountability, trust with city

A total of 20 people addressed council, all in favor of the issue being placed on the ballot. Among them was Amy Kuumafa, an organizer with the DJP, who said the office is setting its own precedent of being proactive and it needs to continue as a strong department.

David Larson said he cancelled a Monday night event to attend the meeting “because it’s really important we take a first step toward reestablishing trust in the community.”

Landau noted victims and their families feel much more comfortable discussing their situations with the independent monitor, compared to the police department’s internal affairs division.

“My own case was totally ignored,” he added.

Landau was badly beaten by police during a traffic stop in 2009.

Darlene January said she is a retired city employee and members of her family have worked in law enforcement, “So I know exactly what goes on. I can’t trust the shields and I don’t like to feel that way.”