Mayor Michael Hancock’s office announced Monday he has appointed Senior Deputy Monitor Gregg Crittenden as the interim director of the Office of the Independent Monitor. 

Independent Monitor Nick Mitchell announced his resignation Dec. 18 after his appointment by a federal court to to oversee a Department of Justice consent decree with the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The OIM serves as a watchdog for Denver’s law enforcement agencies, and in December the office released a report detailing shortcomings in the Denver Police Department’s early responses to protests of police violence in May and June.

“With Nick Mitchell’s departure, Denver is fortunate to have someone with Gregg’s experience, knowledge and awareness of the many issues managed by the Office of the Independent Monitor,” Hancock said in a news release. “The office’s work contributes to making our city safer and I have every confidence that Gregg can lead this office while we begin the search for a permanent Director.”

 According to the release, Crittenden has served as the OIM’s senior deputy monitor in 2006. He previously was the 5th Judicial District’s chief deputy district attorney, supervising day-to-day operations and handling complex felony cases.

The release states that in the OIM’s office, Crittenden oversees all discipline matters and serves on committees and boards for Denver Police and Sheriff policies around discipline, investigations, procedures and use of force.

He also served as interim head of the OIM when Richard Rosenthal left the office in 2012 until Mitchell’s appointment. 

According to Denver’s City Charter, Hancock will direct recruitment for Mitchell’s permanent replacement.  A five-member screening committee will interview and vet candidates. The names of up to three candidates chosen by the committee will be made public. Hancock can request the committee submit additional candidates if he chooses not to appoint any of the three. City Council then has to confirm the appointment. 

District 6 Councilman Paul Kashmann, who chairs City Council’s Safety, Housing, Education & Homelessness Committee, said Mitchell had “great confidence” in Crittenden and expects he will carry the torch well during the search for Mitchell’s permanent replacement.

“While we’d certainly love to have the next monitor on board in short order, we certainly don’t want to shortcut the search,” Kashmann said. “I think we were real lucky with Mr. Mitchell, and I’m sure there are other great monitors out there, but they’re not just falling off a tree. We’re going to need to do a full search and turn up the best possible candidate.”

The committee will be chaired by the head of the Citizen Oversight Board – currently Al Gardner – and also include a member of City Council chosen by the council president, a current or retired judge chosen by the mayor, the Office of Human Resources executive director and “a person with extensive knowledge of internal police investigations or the monitoring of internal police investigations but who has never been employed by the Denver police, sheriff or fire departments as selected by the mayor.”