In recent months, while leading the reform effort of the Denver Sheriff Department, I’ve often thought about former public safety leaders, wondering what they would think about the challenges we are facing.
How would they work to eliminate inappropriate conduct and behavior by enough sheriff’s deputies to have caused the public to lose its confidence in the department?
The issue of inappropriate conduct and behavior is the first of many challenges we are addressing. We also need to hold the department’s leadership and rank-and-file members accountable and recalibrate the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau. We are seeking strategies to streamline a discipline process that takes way too long, to ensure that inmates are afforded dignity and respect while in the custody and care of the department, and to assure the public that its investment into the sheriff’s department is sound.
I have to believe that former public safety leaders would first acknowledge these very real and valid problems before quickly proceeding to the tasks of securing and implementing solutions. The Denver Sheriff Department is in need of critical reforms. While I recognize that the majority of Denver sheriff’s deputies work very hard and professionally to meet their responsibilities, it is undisputed that the department as a whole needs significant improvement. Denver is already well on its way, having begun the work necessary for improvement.
We are currently reviewing sheriff’s department operations through the creation of four task forces that included community members, city employees, sheriff deputies and criminal justice stakeholders. Their work is focused on four areas of review — policies and procedures, discipline, training, and staff well-being — and has already resulted in 73 recommendations for improvement.
This work is a strong start, but certainly not enough given all that has recently been revealed about the department. Upon recognizing the need for a more comprehensive approach, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock directed that a top-to-bottom review take its course. He appointed an executive steering committee to guide the reforms and tasked the committee to help secure a firm to conduct an independent organizational assessment of the Denver Sheriff Department and recruit a new sheriff.
The committee also evaluated the merits of moving the sheriff’s department from the Career Service Authority to the Civil Service Commission, where both the police and fire departments exist. It has guided a review of personnel resources and operational efficiencies, a review of existing recruitment and hiring practices, and has secured Grayson Robinson, a respected former Arapahoe County Sheriff, to provide interim leadership to the Internal Affairs Bureau. The executive committee has also made progress toward hiring additional temporary personnel to help eliminate a backlog of pending disciplinary cases. The committee convened a total of six forums to obtain feedback from community members and sheriff’s deputies regarding reform.
The outcome of these efforts will be advanced to the firm selected to conduct the comprehensive assessment and will help to inform their work because everything concerning the Denver Sheriff Department is on the table for this assessment.
The Denver Sheriff Department is in dire need of revision, and the only way to bring about change is to get to work. Existing challenges have developed over time. It will take time for substantive change to occur, but make no mistake: We are getting to work and striving to deliver a sheriff department that we can all again be proud of.
Stephanie O’Malley is the executive director of the Denver Department of Public Safety.
