Count us among those who hated to see Al LaCabe go. He stepped down last week after seven years as Denver’s manager of safety.
LaCabe, who took over the position in 2003, instilled the office with an enhanced level of professionalism and dramatically reformed a police department by overhauling ridiculously flawed policies.
LaCabe was quickly confronted with high-profile and explosive challenges: the fatal police shootings of Paul Childs, a mentally handicapped teenager, in 2003, and of Frank Lobato, a defenseless 64-year-old man, one year later in his bed.
The poor decision-making displayed in these cases forced the city of Denver to settle with Childs’ family for $1,325,000 and with Lobato’s for $900,000.
The shootings led LaCabe on a years-long battle to reform the city’s rules on punishing errant police officers.
He finally won that battle in the spring of 2008 when the city replaced an outdated system known as “comparative discipline.” It meant that past disciplinary decisions governed how current penalties were set, leaving no room for reason or common sense.
LaCabe’s system set more flexible guidelines.
The safety manager also worked with the police department to increase the use of non-lethal weapons, and revise policies and implement better training for officers to prepare them for the difficult task of using fatal force.
And to good effect. In mid-2008, an outside consultant with a reputation for being tough-minded rated Denver’s police department much improved on its use of deadly force.
The Police Assessment Resource Center found that the department “meets and even exceeds national standards.”
Unfortunately, LaCabe’s departure will be remembered with some controversy.
Before cleaning out his desk last week, LaCabe fired three police offices — two of them for reasons that are somewhat unclear.
The officers were fired over their handling of a case involving then- 16-year-old Juan Vasquez.
No one’s defending the ouster of one of the officers, who repeatedly jumped on the back of Vasquez after a chase. Though acquitted of first-degree felony assault, Charles “Chuck” Porter’s actions were grave enough that Denver decided to settle a lawsuit on behalf of Vazquez for $850,000. Prosecutors said Porter’s actions caused serious internal injuries to the boy.
The police union, however, is roundly criticizing LaCabe for firing the other officers, saying the men served as credible witnesses in Porter’s trial.
But the officers delayed reporting Porter’s actions for six days — a fact LaCabe described as part of his rationale in firing them — and Porter’s trial raised credibility questions about the men.
Given the care and professionalism we’ve admired about LaCabe’s tenure, we’re inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt on the firings, and we’re optimistic that the record will soon show he acted reasonably.
Meanwhile, we congratulate LaCabe on his substantial contribution to Denver’s well-being.
