Denver police conducted an insufficient investigation into allegations that one of their own violated a pledge to refrain from alcohol, the city’s independent monitor found Monday.
Richard Rosenthal detailed the case in his quarterly report on discipline cases. He did not identify the officer, who allegedly was consuming as many as 13 drinks a day.
Rosenthal’s criticism marked the first time he has found an internal-affairs investigation by the Police Department insufficient since he arrived in Denver five years ago.
“It is my expectation that we will not have similar problems in the future, and that in future cases where officers make alcohol agreements, the department will be more proactive,” Rosenthal said in an interview.
His report found the following:
The department’s internal-affairs bureau received an anonymous call in October reporting that the officer still had a drinking problem. The caller also alleged that another police agency had to respond to a domestic dispute involving the officer several months earlier.
The officer had reached an agreement in June 2008 with Denver Safety Manager Al LaCabe to abstain from alcohol for two years. That agreement was part of a settlement in a discipline case involving the officer’s conviction for disturbing the peace in an alcohol-related incident.
In return, LaCabe held in abeyance 30 days of a 64-day suspension without pay.
Rosenthal said that instead of immediately opening an investigation into the October allegation and doing an unannounced blood-alcohol test, internal affairs delayed action for months. The officer was given a urine test more than a month after he was told of the allegation. After he passed the test, internal-affairs officials declined to investigate further.
Rosenthal found that the internal-affairs bureau violated normal protocol by failing to provide his office timely notification of last year’s allegation. If true, the allegation might have resulted in the officer’s firing. Rosenthal said notification should have been made so he could monitor the internal-affairs case, which is allowed under city ordinance.
Instead, the sergeant who received the anonymous call did nothing for three months. At that point, an initial investigation consisted of checking with the agency that responded to the domestic dispute reported by the anonymous caller.
That responding agency reported that although the person who called them to the scene appeared to be under the influence, the Denver officer did not. The agency also stated there was no evidence of domestic violence.
Internal affairs alerted the officer he was under investigation on Feb. 4 but did not interview him until Feb. 23 and again on March 2. The officer, who denied using alcohol, passed a March 17 urine test.
Rosenthal said he learned of the situation in February while reviewing a weekly report of new cases.
“Having not been informed of the case by internal affairs command staff, not realizing that the complaint was several months old and not knowing that the officer had already been informed of the complaint, the monitor recommended an unannounced blood-alcohol test,” he wrote in the report. “Due to the notice that was given to the officer, however, the monitor was forced to conclude that immediately conducting a test would not be fruitful.”
Internal-affairs officials declined Rosenthal’s suggestion that they wait some time to do another unannounced test to make sure the officer was not drinking. Instead, they closed the case.
Police Chief Gerry Whitman, through a spokesman, said he was too busy to comment on the report.
Rosenthal said internal-affairs officials say they now are developing a policy on unannounced drug or alcohol testing for those officers who have agreed to refrain from drug or alcohol use.
Rosenthal said this was the second case in a decade in which a Denver officer has stipulated he or she will refrain from using alcohol. He said another case occurred in April 2008, but that officer resigned after being arrested for a DUI-related traffic accident two months after that agreement was reached.
Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com
