Denver is taking a smart step in its decision to implement a court order and release internal-affairs records from the infamous police “spy files” case – while proceeding to create a more transparent records policy.
It’s a valuable approach. Excessive secrecy about how cops investigate and discipline themselves only undermines public trust in the police.
Cole Finegan, city attorney and Mayor John Hickenlooper’s chief of staff, told Post reporter Christopher Osher that the police department will not appeal a court ruling on the spy files and will end its practice of issuing blanket denials of requests for internal-affairs files. Officials will develop a new open-records policy for such files.
In December, District Court Judge Catherine Lemon ordered the Denver Police Department to turn over internal-affairs documents on two officers disciplined in the spy files case. Lemon ruled against blanket denial of internal-affairs file requests and rejected a claim that files requested by Stephen and Vickie Nash are privileged.
The Nashes are members of CopWatch, a citizen group that monitors police activities, and had been spy-files targets. Chief Gerry Whitman confirmed they were among the 3,200 groups and individuals, including Quaker pacifists and Roman Catholic nuns, snooped on. The couples’ request for the names of the officers who ordered and carried out the surveillance and what discipline was imposed had been denied.
Finegan noted that keeping internal-affairs documents confidential is common in large police departments, but “the courts in Denver expect greater transparency and accountability.” He also cited a Colorado Supreme Court decision on this newspaper’s request for release of items seized at the homes of Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in 1999. The high court ruled release of criminal-justice records must be on a case-by-case basis that balances privacy interests against the public purpose served by allowing access.
“If this finally marks a turn in the city’s policy and what will be its practice, then I’m really pleased,” said Mark Silverstein, legal director of the Colorado ACLU. “There needs to be a policy that is much more open, much more friendly to the concept of open government, much more understanding of the public’s need to have access to documents about how the police investigate themselves.”
We agree. And we’ll hold Finegan to his word that the city actually will produce documents rather make case-by-case denials that have the same effect as a blanket ban on releasing internal-affairs records.
