Denver officials on Thursday released a list of 32 recommendations to improve discipline within the sheriff’s department — changes they hope would clearly spell out when deputies can use force and make it easier to fire them when they break the rules.
The recommendations, released by the Denver Department of Public Safety, seek to address issues raised in a recent series of high-profile cases that have embarrassed the city, cost it millions of dollars and led to the sheriff’s resignation.
Since April, a 21-member task force has studied disciplinary cases from the past several years, and it made suggestions based on patterns the group identified, said Stephanie O’Malley, executive director of the public safety department. Most of the recommendations deal with use of force.
“There’s a recognition that use of force is something in which we as a community need to take very seriously,” O’Malley said. “These recommendations speak to the seriousness of the subject matter.”
One proposed rule change has a direct connection to Jamal Hunter, a former inmate from the city.
The recommendation specifically says deputies should be accountable for inmate-on-inmate assaults under their watch. Hunter was beaten and scalded by fellow inmates while a deputy guarding the pod looked the other way.
Under the current disciplinary system, there is no specific rule for that, and the deputy who was on duty during Hunter’s assault, , returned to work at the sheriff’s department after serving a 40-day suspension.
It is one of several recommendations that would create new rules or add specific punishments to existing rules.
“If you follow these rules, you’re going to thrive here,” said Joseph Sandoval, a task force member and criminal justice professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver. “If you don’t, there’s going to be consequences.”
None of the recommendations will go into effect anytime soon. They will be compiled into a master report that will be given to a soon-to-be-hired consultant, O’Malley said. And no changes will be made before a new sheriff is hired, she said.
Disciplinary issues, especially cases of excessive force, have been at the heart of controversy surrounding the department. The Hunter settlement was the largest in the city’s history, and it got the public’s attention.
The recommendations also come as the city defends itself in another excessive-force case in federal court. The family of former inmate Marvin Booker has sued the city, a sergeant and four deputies after the homeless street preacher died in July 2010 while under restraint when he disobeyed an order to go to a holding cell so that he could retrieve his shoes.
Plaintiff witnesses in the three-week trial have testified that deputies applied more force than necessary, including a carotid chokehold and nunchucks to subdue Booker. One Texas expert testified Tuesday that the inmate was handcuffed with his hands behind his back solely as a form of punishment.
Another recommendation suggested change would place more weight on a deputy’s intent when he uses force. Currently, a deputy might hit an inmate in anger, but his penalty would depend on how seriously the inmate was hurt.
Under the proposed change, a lack of injury wouldn’t necessarily lessen the punishment, said Al LaCabe, a former Denver safety manager and a member of the discipline task force.
“In some cases, the extent of the injury made something more serious,” LaCabe said. But the rules would change so that “even when there is no injury, the motivation for your using the force would be just as important.”
The discipline task force is the second group to suggest the city consider moving Denver sheriff’s deputies from the Career Service Authority, which oversees parks, sanitation and other workers, to the Civil Service Commission, which covers the police and fire departments. The move would change oversight in the hiring and firing of deputies.
Other recommended changes include:
• Creating a specific punishment for dimming lights in inmate pods. Rules exist for when and where lights should be on, but there is no specific punishment for that violation. Instead, punishment falls under a general conduct category.
• Increase penalties for sleeping on the job or abandoning a post.
• Create a rule requiring deputies to report humiliating or cruel treatment of prisoners by other deputies or jail employees.
• Speed the and give priority to excessive force, inmate mistreatment or deceptive conduct cases.
At the sheriff’s department, deputy discipline is determined through a complicated formula known as the “disciplinary matrix.” Various rules violations are weighted based on their seriousness, and a deputy’s employment history also influences the level of punishments.
In the past, deputies who committed serious use-of-force violations often were given suspensions but allowed to remain on staff.
For example, r continues working in that position even after he was found to have used excessive force when he slammed an inmate into a metal window frame during a court hearing. That inmate, , has now sued the city for $5 million.
Recently, the city has been more quick to terminate deputies. The safety department fired two deputies involved in a July excessive-force case: , who punched an inmate, and , who lied about the punch in a report.
Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey determined that Ford would not be prosecuted on criminal assault charges.
But the task force said department leaders need to emphasize that expectations for deputy behavior is higher than standards set by the state’s criminal laws and federal civil laws.
O’Malley said she and others on the committee did not want deputies to perceive that their bosses are out to get them.
While Sandoval acknowledged that the changes would make it easier to terminate deputies, which may upset the rank-and-file, he said there are other ways to look at the recommendations.
“The other point of view is from the citizenry who says, ‘Gee whiz, they are finally getting serious. Let’s give them a Bronx cheer for what they should have already been doing in the first place,’ ” Sandoval said. “And the administration looks at it as ‘If we get everyone in line with these policies, maybe we can avoid having this kind of embarrassment.’ “
Noelle Phillips: 303-954-1661, nphillips@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ noelle_phillips
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell contributed to this report.
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