Denver’s Department of Safety is revising the way that inmates’ complaints are investigated in the sheriff’s department, according to a new report by the Office of the Independent Monitor, which will share its assessments of those polices once plans are finalized.

Mayor Michael Hancock and Troy Riggs, executive director of the safety department, announced in December 2018 the creation of a Public Integrity Division within DOS to investigate complaints and review investigations for potential rule violations. The safety department appointed an advisory board to recommend policies and procedures for the division, and those policy decisions will soon be made by Riggs.

Meanwhile, the OIM is policing the police. The office monitors the disciplinary systems in the Denver Police Department and Sheriff’s Department and makes policy recommendations for the two.

As part of that policing, the OIM regularly publishes status reports on both departments. The latest, published Wednesday, is the 2019 Semiannual Report, a 50-page document detailing complaints, investigations and disciplinary systems in the departments.

The report found that the number of community member and inmate complaints recorded in the first half of 2019 decreased by half compared with the first half of 2018. The number of internal complaints from sheriffs department management and other employees also decreased by more than 40%.

In a separate analysis, the report also revealed that the number of body-worn camera policy violations was “quite a bit lower” than numbers seen in years past, Independent Monitor Nicholas Mitchell said.

“I think generally the police department has emphasized the importance of activating cameras, and I think that may have had a positive effect,” he said. “I also think the fact that we’ve done several reports about the body camera program may have also had an effect.”

In a 2014 special report on DPD’s body cameras, the OIM found that the majority of incidents involving use of force were not recorded by body cameras. The office provided nine recommendations for improvements, including additional training for officers, conducting an analysis on what went wrong with equipment, and providing officers with notice of possible penalties for violating policy.

In the first half of the year, DPD recorded 187 community complaints, a 16% increase from the first half of 2018. Internal complaints within the department dropped by 14% compared with the first six months of last year.  

“It is very difficult to explain fluctuations in the number of complaints filed over time,” the OIM report said. “Patterns in complaints can change as the result of developments in organizational policy, practice or training.”

Denver Police said they’re grateful for the report, which Mitchell said is intended to create transparency.

“We appreciate the work of the [OIM] detailed in the semi-annual report and the feedback and recommendations they provide,” the police department said to Colorado Politics in a statement. “The department continuously monitors trends involving complaints and use-of-force incidents throughout the year in order to identify opportunities to improve or enhance the service we provide to Denver residents.”