Activists, pastors and concerned metro Denver residents late Tuesday used a City Council public hearing to voice frustration about some police incidents and urge approval of a bid to strengthen a city safety watchdog’s authority.
Terrence Hughes, vice president of the Greater Denver Ministerial Alliance, put it this way: “The issue tonight is, are we going to give strength to the Office of the Independent Monitor,” to enable it to live up to the intentions it was created with?
“We’re asking you now to take a stand and also strengthen this office. The community has to have confidence. And right now, the community doesn’t have confidence because we’re finding out about (abuse) cases two and three years after they happen.”
Earlier, pastors and civil rights leaders rallied in support of the measure in the City and County Building’s atrium.
Late in the evening, the council started a courtesy public hearing at 10:20 p.m., after an hours-long property rezoning hearing. Shortly before midnight, the council gave initial approval to the unchanged proposal 10-0, with Jeanne Faatz abstaining and two members absent. Attendees applauded.
The council likely will take a final vote on the issue Monday.
Some speakers during the hearing said the independent monitor measure wouldn’t do enough to provide more law enforcement accountability.
Councilman Paul Lopez’s proposal with the monitor’s office and provide requested documents in a reasonable amount of time.
Besides supporting that measure, participants in the afternoon “Black and Brown Unity” rally also expressed recurring frustrations with the Denver district attorney’s office, based on a perception that prosecutors long have let excessive force by police slide.
The most recent rallying cry stems from last month’s fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Jessica Hernandez, who officers say was driving a stolen car toward them. Her death is under investigation.
The Colorado Latino Forum to review police actions rather than relying on DA Mitch Morrissey’s office.
Lisa Calderon, the Denver co-chair of the Latino Forum, linked that issue with the independent monitor proposal as she spoke during the rally. The goal is “to strengthen oversight and transparency,” she said. “We are not going backward.”
That was a reference to so that it restricts Independent Monitor Nick Mitchell’s access to officers’ private information — access Mitchell says he currently has.
The police union’s request has not appeared to gain traction with council members. Pastor Del Phillips of the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance accused Morrissey of being unconcerned with potential criminal actions of police officers. He said, “The great majority of our communities (of color) are impacted by these issues.”
He compared that perceived lack of interest in improper police actions with Morrissey’s for her office’s findings in two high-profile firings of sheriff’s deputies. Phillips said Morrissey had no business wading into an administrative decision.
But Morrissey’s office says he took care not to criticize the firings and intended only to dispute “the misuse of legal language and the misstatement of the facts in one of the termination letters.”
DA spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough also disputed rally organizers’ claim that the office hasn’t prosecuted an excessive-force case in more than two decades. Since 1997, she said, the office has filed 30 cases against law enforcement officers based on the use of force. Seven occurred since Morrissey took office in 2005.
The most recent prosecution alleging excessive force was in 2011, she said.
