DENVER—The city’s new manager of safety says the current system of police discipline is too slow and cumbersome, and he is making changes to speed it up in order to restore confidence among the community.
Alex Martinez, a former Colorado Supreme Court justice, took over as head of the city department that provides civilian oversight of Denver’s police, fire and sheriff’s department in in November. In taking the job, he became the sixth manager of safety for Denver following recent turmoil over several high-profile excessive force cases facing the embattled police department.
“The perception, which I think is wrong, is that the police are hiding something or that they’re dragging their feet and don’t want to conclude (disciplinary cases) because then there might be negative consequences,” Martinez said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press.
Martinez is taking an analytical approach that served him well during his 15 years on the state Supreme Court and more than a decade as a judge and public defender. He said he’s prepared to make tough disciplinary decisions that may cost him his job, as well as take a shot at revamping the discipline guidelines, known in the police department as the discipline matrix, that took years to establish.
“I find myself here out of interest in trying to fix or correct what is perceived as a big problem in terms of the relationship with the police and the community,” Martinez said. “I sort of feel at liberty to take personal risk to do that.'”
He said he wants both administrative and policy changes to help his office be more effective and faster. “Historically, the manager’s time has been consumed by the police discipline issues,” he said. “I hope to reorganize the manager of safety’s office, so that it is for my purposes, an effective management team.”
Martinez said, for example, that in disciplinary cases that wouldn’t result in termination, the process is geared toward punishment—not correcting bad behavior that would make for better officers. That needs to change, he said, because the assumption from the beginning in minor cases is that an officer is going to remain on the force but that the lag in time between the behavior and any discipline diminishes any corrective value.
Martinez said that to fix the problem, he is making administrative changes that include appointing a deputy to oversee minor disciplinary cases. He said he would handle only those that involve termination.
Currently Martinez handles all cases involving police discipline, including those he said would be minor for other organizations that would result in counseling by a supervisor, not an investigation.
Martinez is also assigning a deputy to follow the case while it’s under investigation by the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau, so the manager of safety’s office is familiar with the case by the time it shows up on Martinez’s desk, or his deputy’s. Martinez said his office has 15 days to make a decision from the time it arrives there.
The changes come at a time when Denver police are facing calls for a federal civil rights investigation. One of Martinez’s predecessors, Ron Perea, resigned within two months of taking office in 2010 following public outcry over his handling of one case. In that instance, two officers were recorded on video throwing a man to the ground outside a nightclub in April 2009.
Before taking the safety manager job, Perea had been the former Secret Service Special Agent in Charge in Denver who oversaw security for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. He refused to fire the officers involved, saying he was following guidelines in the discipline matrix. The two were later fired by a new manager of safety, but eventually got back their jobs. The city is appealing their reinstatement.
In April, two other officers were fired for allegedly lying about their actions during arrests caught on one of the city’s surveillance cameras. The video from the July 2009 arrests shows one officer using a billy club to shove some women to the ground outside a downtown eatery. He is seen near a woman on her knees when a second officer sprays mace in her face and then sprays the crowd.
Those officers were reinstated this month by a Civil Service Commission panel, although Martinez is appealing that decision. One of the officers was also involved in the beating of Alexander Landau, who suffered brain injuries and trauma during a 2009 traffic stop that resulted in a $795,000 settlement with the city.
Denver has paid a total of $2.67 million between 2008 and last year to settle excessive force claims, including the Landau case. The city said it did so without admitting liability and to save litigation costs.
Richard Rosenthal, the former head of the city’s Office of Independent Monitor that oversees internal investigations, called for a federal civil rights investigation. He said the department could not effectively police itself.
In December, another former manager of safety said that some officers accept roughing up suspects as long as the injuries aren’t too severe. Al LaCabe testified in a case involving an officer fired over a beating that left a 16-year-old with a damaged liver and kidney.
Martinez was unfazed by the allegations as he methodically plowed through at least a dozen cases in his first six weeks on the job and fired two officers.
“There are really a very small number of officers who drive the perception of the police department who have become the face of the police department,'” Martinez said. “I’m very impressed, generally with the quality and the integrity of police officers.'”
