Denver Post

Webb says violent flier was written by outsider
By Mike McPhee
Denver Post Staff Writer

Sunday, July 13, 2003 - Mayor Wellington Webb says that a flier floating around northeast Denver neighborhoods promoting violence against police is not the work of anyone who lives in the area and is not written by a black person.

"Nobody from northeast Denver wrote that," Webb said. "We have a way of speaking and a way of writing."

Webb spoke while he was at a funeral for Paul Childs, shot to death by a Denver police officer a week earlier.

Neither the mayor nor his spokeswoman, C.L. Harmer, later provided any support for his assertion.

"I'm not going to interpret it for him," Harmer said. "He came out of that community... I'm going to let him speak for himself."

Harmer said the mayor was not available for comment.

Denver police said the mayor's theory did not come from any information they had shared with him.

"We have not determined where the flier came from," said Detective Teresa Garcia, a spokeswoman for the department.

Webb first made the comments in a Friday interview with The Denver Post and then repeated them at the funeral of Paul Childs on Saturday.

He also thanked those community members who spoke out against targeting the police for violence.

"That's not justice," Webb told those gathered at the funeral.

Webb told The Post on Friday he believes the police "did everything exactly right" in the handling of the Paul Childs case "except for the few seconds" when bullets were fired.

"They did everything according to training. They had Tasers there, everything was in place," Webb said. "It's the individual's judgment that has to be investigated."

Police officer James Turney, 29, a five-year veteran who shot and killed a teenager while on duty last year, is accused of shooting Childs, a 15-year-old disabled student from East High School who had been waving a knife at his mother on July 5. Turney allegedly confronted Childs in the doorway of his house, then fired four shots at him.

"Are there questions about it? Yes, there are. That's what investigations are for," the outgoing mayor said. "We've got to make sure the investigation will be fair and that we let the facts fall wherever they may."

Webb said he supports the Police Department, Chief Gerry Whitman and the union - the Police Protective Association.

"It's a good department that continues to get better," Webb said. "But every time we take three steps forward, it seems something happens and we take a step backward.

"Overall I think the department is in pretty good shape. It needs some work, we need to create a culture of excellence that we started when Chief Whitman took over."

Then Webb turned circumspect about two points that he said frequently are overlooked.

"Police officers are not like anyone else, because the moment they put that badge on and step out into the street, their life is at risk.

"The other point is that they are individuals. We have 1,500 or 1,600 people in the Police Department, and they're not all the same. Some are more aggressive, some are more restrained. They're all different.

"When something like this (the Childs shooting) happens, it's a tragedy on both sides. No police officer wants to take a life. But safety is key, too, because no (police) family member wants to receive the phone call that their loved one isn't coming home tonight."

One change that Webb worked toward was the elimination of the "comparable discipline rule," which states that an officer can be disciplined only in a manner like other officers' discipline in similar incidents.

"I have always thought it needs to be changed, that we should give more authority to the chief," he said. "On the other hand, it does prevent the chief from acting excessively. But if the chief becomes excessive, I have the right to fire him.