DENVER — Brother Jeff's Cultural Center in Five Points was filled with community members on Saturday as people wanted to address Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas over his proposal to change the department's disciplinary policy.
The push is for an education-based development model for certain low-level policy violations. It would be an "alternative to traditional discipline."
"I think it's very unsatisfying to give someone a written or an oral reprimand a year after they have committed an infraction," said Thomas. "I think it's insufficient for the officer, and I think it’s insufficient for the community."
Denver7 first spoke with Thomas last month about his push for this alternative approach and how it would move from oral or written reprimands to 'individualized education and training to improve employee performance.' Thomas explained to Denver7 how a citizen could wait months after filing a complaint against an officer for a low-level violation.
"I want this policy because I want a much more solution-oriented outcome for lower-level forms of discipline," Thomas said. "I think that the time it takes to complete these cases in and of itself erodes trust because I think the people are allowed to think the police department has forgotten, and then if the outcome in the case is not sustained, then you waited a year to tell me, 'well, how serious did you really take that case?' And so I think that if we can provide those resolutions much more quickly, I think that we can continue to maintain community trust."
Members of the audience directly asked Thomas questions, with Brother Jeff Fard facilitating the conversation and asking questions from the livestream. Topics of discussion centered on community involvement, accountability, and specific examples of minor policy violations.
"We covered all of those questions that were submitted. We also said you have an opportunity not just to ask a question, but sit and dialog with the chief, and that means follow-up questions. Now, you may not agree with what he's saying. He may not agree with what you're saying, but you're communicating," Fard explained.
Lisabeth Pérez Castle, Denver's independent monitor, previously spoke with Denver7 about her concerns and the community's lack of engagement. She says there is no research evidence to support this new model and is worried about how it will impact oversight.
"For the past 17 years, training could have been used in conjunction with discipline, which is the accountability portion," said Castle. "So this model was something completely different. This is eliminating accountability, eliminating sustained findings, and instead only doing training. That is a completely different thing than doing training in addition to accountability."
The independent monitor's annual report showed 94 of 156 officers were disciplined for violating policy and given a written or oral reprimand. Following the meeting, Castle shared that her biggest takeaway was the community's desire to have their voices heard and be involved in any future policy changes.
"I think the community is clear. They want to know more. They want to be engaged. They expect to be engaged. They demand to be engaged. I hope that the chief hears that message and involves the community further. Specifically, hopefully in the same model in which the original discipline system was adopted with significant community engagement, academic engagement, research, bringing all parties to the table to discuss what exactly this policy is going to say," Castle said.
The Denver Police Department is accepting feedback through September 30. Thomas said he has 'provided considerable community input' and has received over 800 responses from the community.
While the conversation was focused on the education-based discipline model, there were also conversations ranging from nonviolent concerns surrounding expired tags to a student showing up at Denver East High School with a gun this week. Lanier Deruso and McKiya Johnson, with the Struggle of Love Foundation, asked questions about school safety and how officers confronted the individual with the gun at school.
"The youth is the upcoming generation, so of course we want to put more information in them so they can become better human beings," Johnson said.
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