A former Denver safety director has joined the call for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the sheriff’s department.
Butch Montoya, who served as safety director and deputy mayor from 1994 to 2000, told The Denver Post on Tuesday that bringing in federal investigators would end the confusion surrounding various task forces and committees, and it would shut down any perception that city officials are incapable of conducting a fair, independent review of the agency.
“We have so many people putting things in the recipe for detention management that we’re going to end up with some soupy, ugly thing that doesn’t even work,” Montoya said.
A Justice Department review would ensure the reforms are done correctly, he said.
“A Department of Justice investigation and oversight is the only answer to put in place the right reforms,” he said.
Already, U.S. District Judge John Kane has urged federal authorities to investigate the Denver Sheriff Department and Denver Police Department after he found faults with internal affairs investigations into attacks on a former inmate.
And the Colorado ACLU is considering a written request to the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said Denise Maes, the public policy director. It would be the ACLU’s second request after it asked for a federal investigation in 2011 in the wake of the death of Marvin Booker, a homeless street preacher who died in the jail after deputies put him in a chokehold and pinned him facedown.
“It’s safe to say that the ACLU is considering another request if it continues to appear that the city is not looking to implement a solution that will give the community trust that serious work is being undertaken,” Maes said.
On Monday, Maes and other civic leaders blasted the city’s handling of four task forces created to recommend changes within the sheriff’s department.
Rudy Gonzales, a member of the Colorado Latino Forum, called the task forces “political window dressing.” His organization pulled its members’ participation over concerns that their recommendations would not be heard.
But Pete Dunbar, who serves on the training task force, said his group has had “pretty frank conversations” with deputies about needed improvements. It has developed a list of more than 20 recommendations, and Dunbar is confident those ideas will be considered.
The city should be more transparent in how it is conducting the search for a new sheriff and for a consulting firm to study jail operations, Maes said. The ACLU would support more involvement from Denver’s independent monitor, Nick Mitchell.
“There are so many things going on it’s hard to know what the priority is and how things are being organized,” she said.
The process is taking too long, Montoya said. It has been three weeks since former Sheriff Gary Wilson stepped down.
“What exactly has been done in the search for a new sheriff?” he asked.
Last week, Mayor Michael Hancock announced that he had enlisted Jim Davis, a former FBI agent, to help with plans to reform the sheriff’s department.
On Monday, the mayor’s office gave The Post an organizational chart for an executive committee studying firms to review the sheriff’s department and to help find a new sheriff.
It shows the process being led by David Edinger, Denver’s chief performance officer. He will oversee an executive steering committee that has 10 members, including safety manager Stephanie O’Malley, Denver Police Chief Robert White and Sheriff Elias Diggins.
The executive committee has five subcommittees.
Montoya said executive staffers are political appointments whose jobs require them to make the mayor look good.
“It is difficult as an appointee to raise issues or new ideas that reforms are actually needed and that the problems are real,” he said.
But Al LaCabe, the city’s safety manager from 2003 to 2010, said the mayor and his staff are capable of making serious changes to the sheriff’s department.
He also said it would be less expensive and faster for the city to conduct its own review rather than being forced to deal with the lengthy and expensive process of a Justice Department investigation.
“If the city is truly committed to making these changes — and I believe this mayor is — I’m confident it can be accomplished in the way this mayor has described he intends to go about it.”
Noelle Phillips: 303-954-1661, nphillips@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ Noelle_Phillips