Police union lawyers blast discipline plan
John C. Ensslin
Published January 25, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.
Lawyers for the union representing Denver police officers took aim Thursday night at the centerpiece of a proposed new disciplinary process, describing it as an attempt to fix a system that isn't broken.
They also challenged Manager of Safety Al LaCabe's proposal to amend the city's civil service rules to a system of applying discipline via a "matrix" that generally seeks to match violations of department policy with a range of punishments.
Marc Colin, a lawyer for the Police Protective Association, credited LaCabe with listening to the union's concerns during the two years that the new disciplinary proposal has been under review.
Colin said the current disciplinary system already has the consistency that LaCabe seeks. The current system relies upon comparative discipline, where punishment is based on previous similar cases.
Colin said only about 5 percent of the cases that go before the Civil Service Commission result in punishment being overturned. He blamed inconsistency in the investigative process for those cases.
"Comparative discipline isn't the bogeyman here," Colin said during a meeting of the Citizen Oversight Board at the College View Recreation Center in southwest Denver.
But LaCabe argued that the existing system needs reform. "The system is supposed to be based on consistency," he said. "It is consistently inconsistent."
One reason for that, LaCabe contends, is how the current system relies upon a series of disciplinary recommendations that can vary widely from police commanders through the police chief and the manager of safety.
LaCabe also said the department has not done a very good job in creating an easily searchable database of previous disciplinary cases.
He has proposed a matrix that would enable officers at all levels in the department to "be on the same page" when it comes to disciplinary matters. He also has proposed the creation of a disciplinary handbook, plus training and mediation, to help officers avoid getting into the disciplinary system.
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January 25, 2008
9 a.m.
Suggest removal
blacksho89 writes:
Of COURSE they are against it! As it stands, a Denver officer has shot and killed TWO handicapped African American teens; one deaf and carrying deadly nail clippers. He was not charged or fired.
Another cop shot and killed a handicapped man laying in bed for the heinous crime of drinking a Diet Pepsi. Neither that officer or his supervisors were charged, and THEY are all still on the force!
The Police Union is run by a bunch of thugs with an us vs. them mentality, and We the People are THEM.
January 25, 2008
1:30 p.m.
Suggest removal
sheepherder writes:
Let me guess, blacksho89 probably has an office job, or flips burgers for a living. Our police need to have protections due to split second decisions they are forced to make. Sorry, but I support the police fully and will continue to do so. Do they make errors on occasion, sure...but I thought that was a human trait. I say thank you to the Denver Police Department and the fine job they do. In this case, We The People are us.