The Office of the Independent Monitor, a watchdog for Denver’s police and sheriff departments, will release one of the largest investigations in its history next week, detailing the Denver Police Department’s response to the George Floyd demonstrations that gripped the city in early summer. 

The report is expected to be released Dec. 8, Independent Monitor Nicholas Mitchell told Colorado Politics on Tuesday.

Mitchell is scheduled to present his findings to the Denver City Council’s safety committee the morning of Dec. 9 and, later that evening, will hold a two-hour online public forum hosted by the Citizen Oversight Board that includes a question-and-answer session. 

Mitchell announced in June that he would launch an investigation after Denver City Council members urged him to examine the use of tear gas, less-than-lethal bullets and other unwarranted force against peaceful demonstrators and the media.

In September, Mitchell told council members his report will be a “lessons-learned review” that’s focused on “bigger-picture policy and procedure and practice issues.” 

Mitchell’s staff has spent roughly the last six months poring over “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds” of hours of police body-worn camera footage, street security camera footage, helicopter videos, cell phone footage, audio records, officer statements, crowd dispersal orders, training of officers involved, less-lethal equipment dispersed and more.

The OIM also sought information from Denver Health and the Denver fire and sheriff departments, as well as documentation from outside jurisdictions, to understand their involvement during demonstrations.

Both Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen and Public Safety Executive Director Murphy Robinson have said they support the investigation.

“We in no way, shape or form are justifying inappropriate actions by our officers, and we will fully hold our team accountable for those actions,” Pazen pledged June 17, when he and Robinson were called in to address DPD’s use-of-force policy publicly in front of Denver City Council’s safety committee following protests.

Two weeks earlier, Pazen fired DPD officer Thomas McClay after he posted a photo on social media with two other officers in riot gear and captioned it, “Let’s start a riot,” on the fourth consecutive day of violent protests in Denver.  

That same week, the department also banned all chokeholds, required body cameras for SWAT officers during tactical operations and mandated a use-of-force report when an officer points a firearm at someone. 

The Department of Public Safety and the Office of the Independent Monitor are looking into at least 530 complaints of excessive force during protests, according to Robinson. Some are more serious than others, he said, and any disagreements that arise between the two entities around disciplinary action will be left up to Robinson to decide.

At least three federal lawsuits have been filed over law enforcement’s response to protests. The city recently has also been put on official notice – with the delivery of 50 legal notices to Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s office on Nov. 24 – that a “substantial lawsuit” is forthcoming, which could be one of the largest of its kind in the country.  

“The overall theme is excessive force and illegal arrests,” lead attorney Clifford Beem said of his clients. “They range from blindness, all the way from loss of an eye to being hit with batons and arrested and imprisoned.”