The Denver Post
Council members want change in police discipline rules
Friday, April 16, 2004 -
Several Denver City Council members said Thursday that the police discipline process must be changed to give the city more discretion to fire and punish officers.
Their concerns were voiced after officer James Turney's suspension was announced. The focus of their efforts will be the city's "comparative discipline" rule, a provision in the city charter whereby an officer's punishment can't be worse than the penalty given another officer for a similar offense in the past three years. "I wanted him (Turney) to be terminated, because I really feel he is a danger to our community," Council President Elbra Wedgeworth said. "It's happened before, and it will happen again unless we change it," she said. Turney was suspended for 10 months without pay in connection with the July 5 shooting death of Paul Childs, a 15-year-old developmentally disabled boy who was wielding a knife. Manager of Safety Al LaCabe said he considered comparative discipline as one factor in the suspension because he is bound by city charter. Changing the city's charter would require a public vote. Police union officials say comparative discipline works. Sgt. Mike Mosco, Police Protective Association president, said that system has gotten a bad rap but is the only way to fairly discipline officers. "There's a misconception about comparative discipline that it's very lenient on people. But it's prevalent everywhere, even in our criminal justice system," he said. Mosco said Turney's case is unique because of the circumstances that day. "There has never been a situation like this," he said. "So comparative discipline doesn't enter into the picture here." Turney is expected to appeal his suspension. Officers can appeal to the Civil Service Commission. A hearing officer named by the board decides the police officer's appeal. If the city or police officer is unhappy with the outcome, either can appeal the decision directly to the board or to a court of law. In the past, officers have stayed on the job even when the department wanted them fired. Officer Matthew Graves was fired in 1997 after he was videotaped Christmas Day 1996 pointing his gun at an unruly woman prisoner who had one hand cuffed to the metal bench in her cell. Graves pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and was fired. The Civil Service Commission reversed the firing because of comparative discipline and reinstated Graves. The Rev. Gill Ford, regional director of the NAACP and a former member of the Peace Officer Standards and Training board, said the Graves case shows why comparative discipline must be dropped. "It compromises the Police Department, and it jeopardizes the public," Ford said. Council members believe the public may agree. "I fully expect that there will be a strong desire for the comparative-discipline elements embedded in our city charter to be re-examined," Councilman Rick Garcia said. "Are they (appropriate) for the excessive-force cases we have today?" Ultimately, changing the city's charter to revise police discipline guidelines would be more effective than battling Turney in court, some say. "I would rather put our energies and resources into transforming the system than fighting the legal grounds," Councilman Michael Hancock said. LaCabe, in his written decision, made it clear that comparative discipline was not his only concern. Instead, he wrote, he based his conclusion on the "totality of the circumstances." |