The man in charge of running the Denver Police Department on Thursday pleaded with the panel in charge of discipline appeals to overhaul a system he described as broken.
“Anyone who says we shouldn’t change anything because the system is not broken is not looking at it accurately,” said Safety Manager Al LaCabe in an appearance before the Denver Civil Service Commission.
David Bruno, a lawyer representing the Denver Police Protective Association, countered that a proposal the four commissioners are considering would gut city-charter provisions approved by voters.
“There will someday be another manager,” Bruno said. “But the charter is inviolate and can only be changed by the will of the people.”
The hearing before the commissioners will help guide how they respond to a proposal to lessen their reliance on past discipline in guiding how they respond to discipline appeals. Under that “comparative discipline” rule, the discipline of current officers should be similar to what was meted out in the past.
LaCabe wants to replace that system with a new one that would establish a range of specific punishments for specific offenses. For instance, sleeping on the job would result in a certain level of punishment, as would the improper use of force.
Mitigating factors would be considered under LaCabe’s proposal, such as what happened when an officer committed a violation. For instance, if the officer fell asleep and nothing happened, that would call for one level of punishment. A different level of punishment would be triggered if the sleeping offense resulted in the death of a civilian.
The charter specifies that the commission, in reviewing appeals of disciplinary decisions, must determine whether the punishment “is consistent with discipline received by other members of the department under similar circumstances.”
Bruno said imposing the new proposed discipline guidelines would improperly restrict civil-service hearing officers and the commission from reviewing LaCabe’s punishment decisions.
The commission plans to hold another public hearing on the rule change in the next few weeks, after which the commission will vote on the matter.
Also speaking during Thursday’s hearing were Thomas Buescher, a lawyer representing the union for firefighters. He argued against the change, pointing out that the proposed punishment specifications haven’t been completed yet.
“The manager could decide to say every firefighter that shows up with a dirty uniform should be fired,” Buescher said.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
