Denver sheriff’s deputies, limited to enforcing laws only in the jail, Denver Health Medical Center and the courthouse, are pushing a ballot initiative that would allow them to work more like their police counterparts.
The Fraternal Order of Police, the union that represents the deputies, is gearing up for a petition drive to get the issue on the November ballot.
By some estimates, expanding the deputies’ powers and duties could boost salary costs to the financially strapped city by as much as $9.5 million annually.
The union had hoped to bypass signature-gathering by convincing the City Council to refer the matter to the voters, but that push faltered after a majority of the council expressed reservations.
Denver’s charter gives the city’s safety manager power to delegate the duties of deputies, but is silent on what those duties should be.
The proposed charter change would give deputies the authority to enforce federal, state and local laws, outside of city buildings. It also would stop the practice of requiring deputies to call police to complete paperwork when they apprehend suspects in the facilities they patrol.
Several council members oppose expanding the deputies’ law-enforcement powers. Doing so would require extra training and could end up being used by the union to push for higher salaries during collective bargaining, Councilman Doug Linkhart said.
“It would create dual law enforcement in the city of Denver, which many people, including myself, don’t think we need,” Councilman Michael Hancock said.
The Denver Police Protective Association, the union that represents police officers, also opposes the action.
The city’s finance department estimates it would cost $9.5 million annually if deputies were paid like police. The city’s safety department also has estimated an extra cost for training, but those numbers weren’t immediately available.
City officials project they must overcome a projected $70 million budget deficit over the next 18 months.
Sheriff’s Capt. Frank Gale, president of the union that represents the deputies, disputed the additional costs and denied the deputies are trying to create a new police force or trying to increase their salaries. He said the measure being pushed by deputies will increase public safety.
“If you are a deputy and a peace officer, and if you have to act to protect a citizen or the community at large, you should be able to do that,” Gale said.
The expanded authority would require a change to the city charter, which is done infrequently and requires 40,000 petition signatures to get it before voters in an off-year election.
The deputies also must get the ballot language approved by the clerk and recorder’s office.
Deputies pushed for expanded police powers in 1998, but failed because the gathering of signatures took nine days too long, Gale said.
Last year, the deputies held off on a similar petition drive when Safety Manager Al LaCabe allowed them to arrest individuals in the facilities where they work.
“The deputies received arrest powers last summer, and we thought that resolved the issues as described to us,” Mayor John Hickenlooper’s spokesman, Eric Brown, said. “As far as we know, that is working well, and we’re happy with how the new policy is working.”
But the compromise, advanced by Hancock, didn’t satisfy the deputies, Gale said. He said deputies still must wait for a police officer to file the paperwork, and they still cannot apprehend individuals on Denver streets.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
