The training that veteran Denver police officers receive to prevent racial profiling meets state standards but is not as extensive as that offered by the Colorado State Patrol and several other large police agencies.
Officers hired after 2001 take an eight-hour course on bias policing. But older officers have been exposed only to three training bulletins and an 11-minute video in five years. Classes and briefings throughout the year may also touch on the subject but are not focused courses.
By comparison, the Douglas County sheriff’s department sends every officer to an eight- hour class. It also has some of its deputies trained to conduct the class for other agencies, said sheriff’s Lt. Alan Stanton.
In addition to the course, Doug las County deputies are required to attend cultural diversity training throughout the year.
The eight-hour course used by various agencies is considered a national model.
Denver police Capt. Steven Carter said the Denver department’s training is certified by the state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Board and he believes it is comprehensive.
Still, he said that starting in April, the department plans to implement a new program about biased policing that was developed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and expects that all officers will get the training.
But critics say Denver hasn’t done enough to educate all its officers, especially considering that a 2001 state law was passed primarily to combat complaints of racial profiling in Denver. That law called for all departments to train their officers on issues involving racial bias.
“The idea that you can just train your newest people is just flat-out wrong,” said David Harris, professor of law at the University of Toledo in Ohio and an expert on racial profiling. “… If you simply let the training slide for all your experienced people…, it’s not going to do much good to train your youngest and newest.”
The only veterans required to take the eight-hour course in Denver are newly promoted captains and sergeants.
By contrast, the Colorado State Patrol sent troopers to the Institute of Police Technology and Management in Jacksonville, Fla., for training on biased policing in 2001. Those troopers brought the course back with them, had it certified by the state and have trained every officer.
“It took us two years to get through all the officers throughout the state,” said state patrol Sgt. Jeff Goodwin.
Like Denver, Aurora police have new recruits taking the class, and the rest of their officers undergo in-house training that touches on the issues of ethnic intimidation, ethics, diversity, discrimination and harassment, said Deputy Chief Terry Jones.
In addition, Aurora officers watch six-minute videos on different training techniques on a variety of topics every two weeks during briefing. Those topics may include biased policing.
All sheriff’s employees in Arapahoe and Jefferson counties are required to attend a course every year about ethics and biased policing.
The last training bulletin issued to Denver police officers was sent on Aug. 30, 2004. The one-page memo does not mention anything about race, ethnicity or bias but describes the policy of handing out business cards after traffic stops. The practice is meant to give citizens a chance to complain about their treatment.
Regardless of the amount of time officers spend in class, Carter said, the training is of value “as long as we get the message across in a number of ways.”
Former state Sen. Penfield Tate, who helped sponsor the bill that mandated training, said it is supposed to benefit not just the community but also the officers.
“I think it is reasonable to assume that experienced officers over the years get training of a lot of different types,” Tate said. “They don’t need the same level of training as long as they all have the same understanding of what the law requires.”
Denver Deputy Chief Marco Vasquez said all officers are regularly trained on how to communicate with people of different cultural backgrounds.
The department has also made an effort to reach out to community groups and youth organizations to gain understanding about the issue, Vasquez said.
But professor Harris said that is not the same as training for racial biases.
“It is not adequate to do something like ‘let’s be culturally aware, let’s be culturally competent,”‘ he said. “If police departments are willing to take this on and do some serious training and face the issue, what they will find is that police departments can gain cooperation and gain the trust of the public who believes that they are being singled out.”
Denver police have received six complaints about racial profiling since enacting the practice of handing out business cards in 2001, but after internal investigations, no officers were reprimanded.
Elleta Mesgun, organizer of One Nation Enlightened, a Denver-based group that monitors racial profiling issues and pushed for the law, says she has reviewed some of Denver’s training material and says it is not enough.
“It isn’t training at all but actually a bulletin or announcement made at roll call,” she said. “It’s a shame because effective training has the potential to address racial bias. The Denver Police Department’s lack of commitment to real change is why the community has no faith in the police rectifying racial profiling on their own.”
Profiling, especially of young male minorities, is an ongoing problem in Denver, said Steve Nash of Denver Copwatch.
“They have been promising us increased training and better training for not just new cadets but officers they already have on the line,” Nash said. “Obviously a bulletin does not touch on that. Those are the kinds of things that cover them, but obviously there should be more.”
The same 2001 law that mandated training also required Denver police to collect race information during traffic stops for two years. Jeffrey Fagan, professor of law and public health and Columbia Law School in New York, said those statistics are actually of more value to officers than anti-bias training courses.
“The way that police officers view situations and form suspicion and then go through some kind of decision process is a very complicated psychological dynamic,” Fagan said. “If you say that the officer should not be suspicious of that guy standing in front of that store, the officer is going to say, ‘You are crazy.”‘
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-820-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com.
