Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper is expected to name his choice for the city’s first police monitor early next week, following interviews today with three finalists for the job.
The three met separately with the City Council’s Safety Committee on Thursday. The council can confirm or reject the mayor’s choice of monitor.
Denver’s monitor and a small staff will track and critique internal police investigations and make recommendations for policy changes.
Each candidate offered different perspectives on the job:
Denise DeForest, who works in the Omaha police auditor’s office, said she would hire a community-outreach specialist to form ties with community groups and gauge community concerns in Denver.
“One of the evaluation tools that should be used for this office is outreach, and how well (the monitor’s office) is listening to and responding to the concerns of the community,” DeForest said.
Amos Martinez, who regulates mental-health therapists for Colorado, said that his work and his past as a police detective and sergeant in Grand Junction in the 1980s could help him evaluate police issues from several angles.
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“I know what it’s like to be involved in a high-speed chase with the adrenaline pumping and not knowing what the outcome is going to be,” he said. “I also know the other side.”
Richard Rosenthal, the police monitor in Portland, Ore., since 2001, said he would replicate some things in Denver that he did in Portland.
Chief among those was Rosenthal’s commissioning in 2003 of the nonprofit Police Assessment Resource Center to evaluate Portland’s policies on shootings by police. The center made 89 suggestions for policy changes.
The finalists will meet separately today with Hickenlooper and representatives of the police, fire and sheriff’s departments. Denver intends to pay its monitor from $74,000 to $118,000 annually. Rosenthal now earns $87,000; Martinez, $85,000; and DeForest, $65,000.
Staff writer Kris Hudson can be reached at 303-820-1593 or khudson@denverpost.com .
