We wish we could shower the Denver Police Department with praise for its , which aligns with federal best practices, but sadly, no matter how forward-thinking the draft policy is, it has stumbled out of the gate.
Without buy-in from officers who must implement the policy, and from community members who must put their faith in officers responding to emergencies, the policy will struggle to be implemented with fidelity.
Chief Robert White is right that his top officers are capable of drafting an appropriate use-of-force policy on their own, but that doesn’t mean they should.
Instead of being heralded as a successful move away from antiquated policies that hurt both officers and the public, White’s policy announcement found itself peppered with criticism from the Police Protective Association and a variety of community associations who felt left out of the process.
Denver’s deputy chief Matt Murray makes the compelling argument that a year-long community input session would have only delayed implementation of a critical policy for the department.
But an opportunity to engage the community on this critical revision has been missed.
In contrast, the Denver Sheriff Department spent a year overhauling its use-of-force policy through a task force process that involved mental health experts, the city’s independent monitor and leaders of community organizations.
We called that policy when it was released, in large part because of its humanizing emphasis, and on its focus on using force as a last resort.
“When an individual fails to comply with an order or command,” that policy states, “unless immediate action is necessary to ensure the safety of inmates, staff, and third persons, force shall not be a deputy’s first response.”
Similar language in the police department’s draft is encouraging: “The authority to use force is an extraordinary power that must not be misused or abused,” it says. The new policy levies a duty to intervene on officers who witness inappropriate use of force, a requirement that should empower good officers on the street to speak up when they are concerned.
Denver’s independent police monitor, Nick Mitchell, who received the draft at almost the same time as the general public, said on his first review of the policy he had some concerns about the clarity of some of the standards. Mitchell played a key role in drafting the county policy.
It’s not too late to save a good policy from the discord it has created, and Chief White should use this month of public review to hold task force meetings with community and police advocates rather than a non-responsive e-mail exchange.
If the draft is as good as it seems on first blush, such conversation should be limited, and would likely lead to a better outcome.
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