Denver task force can't fully agree on recommendations

By Brian D. Crecente, Rocky Mountain News
May 13, 2004

The mayor will have his police reform recommendations by next week - they just won't be ones that the task force he appointed completely agreed with.

Actually, Mayor John Hickenlooper will receive at least three recommendations for new forms of police civilian oversight - none of which have the backing of the full 38-member task force.

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The main recommendation, an 18-page, 69-point document, is riddled with the words "no agreement," and only about two-thirds of it was reviewed by the full task force during its final meeting Wednesday night.

Hickenlooper will have the final say on the new form of civilian oversight. He announced the creation of the task force Dec. 16 along with a series of "sweeping reforms intended to change the way the Denver Police Department interacts with Denver's citizens."

The action was prompted by an officer's fatal shooting of Paul Childs, a developmentally disabled teen who was armed with a knife.

In January the mayor appointed 38 community members, law enforcement peronnel and city officials to the commission.

The eclectic mix led to tense and often-argumentative meetings.

The task force met weekly over 104 days, coming to a form of basic understanding but never really seeing eye to eye.

About halfway through a grueling 4 ½-hour meeting Wednesday night the group decided that they would never agree on some points.

By about 10 p.m. many of the members started drifting out of the meeting either in frustration or exhaustion. "I'm done. I'm finished. I'm going home," said Police Protective Association Vice President Nick Rogers moments before leaving the meeting. "This is just too difficult."

Rogers later said that the meetings were on some level worthwhile and that the main police union is not opposed to meaningful civilian oversight. But union member Robert Freund said the main recommendation was unacceptable.

"We cannot agree with this and will not endorse this policy," he said.

The union decided instead to present its own recommendation, which would have police Internal Affairs investigations reviewed by an independent monitor.

A third recommendation, one based on the system used in San Francisco, was also forwarded to the mayor at the request of another group of task force members.

By the end of the meeting only about 17 of the 38 members remained. The group agreed to exchange final suggestions via e-mail and to submit the whole thing to the mayor early next week.

Co-chairman Penfield Tate III said he thought the meetings helped the mix of law enforcement, community members and city officials come to a better understanding.

"It wasn't easy," Tate said, "but it was worthwhile."

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