Denver City Council confirmed the new leader for the city’s Office of the Independent Monitor, filling a two-year vacancy.

Former public defender Lisabeth Castle, later a defense lawyer with her own practice, was confirmed Tuesday. 

The city’s law enforcement watchdog agency monitors investigations of Denver’s safety officers, makes recommendations about discipline and policy to the city’s manager of safety. It also monitors investigations of citizen complaints about safety officer misconduct.

Castle spent 12 years as a public defender in Colorado and opened a private defense practice in 2000. 

During a public forum in the fall, Castle emphasized her connections to Denver and her knowledge of the city’s safety agencies. 

Lisabeth Castle chosen as Denver’s next independent monitor

Denver’s Citizen Oversight Board, which oversees the effectiveness of the monitor’s office and the city’s safety department, chose Castle to replace former monitor Nick Mitchell. He stepped down two years ago to oversee a federal consent decree with Los Angeles County’s jail system.

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Gregg Crittenden has served as interim monitor in the meantime. Castle will be the third person to hold the position since the office’s creation in 2004. 

Mitchell was part of the screening committee that ultimately chose Castle and Opler. The Citizen Oversight Board previously announced three different finalists earlier this year, but chose not to hire any of them.