Hours before community groups were poised to protest their exclusion in the latest effort at reforming the Denver Sheriff Department, plans were in the works to include them.
Daelene Mix, a spokeswoman for the Denver Department of Public Safety, said Monday that community members would be a part of the process.
The implementation team named last month by Mayor Michael Hancock has created seven “action subgroups” and the leaders of those subgroups will begin inviting community stakeholders to participate, Mix said.
Stephanie O’Malley, executive director of the Department of Public Safety, planned to include community members from the get-go, Mix said.
“We have to keep the public engaged in this process,” she said. “This is something she always intended from the outset. I’m not sure people understood the implementation teams would have subgroups.”
Still, seven community groups held a rally Monday to protest the city’s plan. The protesters said they want three representatives appointed to the main implementation team. The appointees should represent the city’s African-American, Latino and Native American communities.
“How dare this administration look us in the face and disrespect us by not allowing anyone from our organization to be on the team?” said the Rev. Patrick Demmer, pastor of Graham Memorial Community Church of God in Christ.
Lisa Calderon, co-chair of the Colorado Latino Forum’s Denver chapter, said she recently had heard about the subgroups, but she did not know anyone who has received an invitation.
Calderon is who planned the rally outside the Denver Police Administration Building.
The groups want seats on the eight-member implementation team appointed by Hancock, Calderon said, because that is the team that will have authority to make things happen.
“We’re asking for leadership seats,” Calderon said. “That’s the seat of power.”
Denver Sheriff Lodge #27, the deputies’ union, supports more community representation.
“If the community is not included in a meaningful way in the reform process, they ultimately won’t have faith in the reform,” said Robert Pablo a union representative.
Hancock appointed the implementation team the same day a nearly was released. The report called for new leadership at the department and wholesale reform within it.
The eight members all work within City Hall, including the Office of the Independent Monitor and the budget office.
At the time, the mayor’s office said the eight members were people who had the authority to make change, whether it was approving funding, creating new city ordinances or rewriting legal policy.
The implementation team has had one meeting where it established priorities and set up its seven subgroups, Mix said.
The seven subgroups will develop short, mid-range and long-term priorities with the help of community stakeholders.
The subgroup topics are:
• Use of force/Internal affairs
• Staffing and performance optimization
• Leadership and supervision
• Training
• Technology
• Human resources
• Community Engagement.
Community members will not be included in the human resources subgroup because of privacy concerns, and the technology subgroup will be limited because it involves expertise such as infrastructure wiring, Mix said.
Interim Sheriff Elias Diggins also has been told to begin making changes that “should not require a committee to get done,” Mix said.
Finally, the implementation team plans to give community updates on progress every 30 days. However, no one has decided how that might be accomplished, Mix said.
Noelle Phillips: 303-954-1661, nphillips@denverpost.com or twitter.com/Noelle_Phillips
