Denver Post

High standard in cop shootings

Tuesday, October 21, 2003 - Roiling public anger about Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter's decision not to prosecute a Denver cop for killing a knife-wielding 15-year-old boy shouldn't be allowed to spill over into another fatal police shooting that occurred early Saturday.

Denver has had eight killings by police so far this year. The latest shooting came shortly before 3 a.m. Saturday, after Officer Michael Ahrens went to 4339 W. Center Ave., where Luis Rodelas-Acuna, 29, reportedly was assaulting his parents. Police say Rodelas-Acuna refused to drop a pickax with which he was armed. The dead man's family claims he was only holding a twig, but the police say other witnesses say he was holding a 4-foot pickax.

At this stage, Rodelas-Acuna's shooting seems different from the July shooting death of mentally disabled Paul Childs at the hands of Officer James Turney. As we said last week, despite Turney's being cleared of criminal wrongdoing, he should be fired because he's too quick on the trigger.

The legal system rightly sets a high standard - beyond a reasonable doubt - in criminal cases, and Ritter ruled that couldn't be met in the Childs case. But Turney's actions also are being reviewed by the department's internal affairs unit, a departmental shooting-probe panel, and the Public Safety Review Commission.

Still, there's a strong public concern that Ritter's office, which works closely with Denver police on other cases, whitewashes cop shootings. That we hold Ritter in high esteem and that his integrity is impeccable is immaterial if ordinary citizens harbor suspicions about police shootings.

Despite improved training and procedures for the use of deadly force since the fatal 1996 shooting of Jeff Truax by two off-duty Denver cops, the weak link remains the public's perception of how authorities handle police-involved shootings.

After the Truax shooting, a city commission chaired by former Colorado Supreme Court Justice William Erickson recommended against submitting most police shootings to grand juries. Notwithstanding that recommendation, it may be time to change Colorado law to require all police shootings to be submitted to grand juries to restore the public's faith in the investigation of such incidents by putting the ultimate decision of whether to indict in the hands of citizens.

To his credit, Ritter issues a detailed report on every police shooting, but under current Colorado law, material presented to a grand jury must remain sealed if no indictment is returned. That law should be changed to allow a narrow, limited exception on disclosing the facts in police shootings. In these cases, full disclosure truly serves the public interest. Also, to avoid conflict, the shootings should be presented to grand juries by DAs in neighboring counties.

Denver also should re-examine charter provisions and personnel policies to remove unrealistic obstacles to firing cops who shouldn't carry a badge or a gun.

The reputations of cops who play by the rules shouldn't be tarnished by incompetents who shoot first and think later.