By Shelly Bradbury
The Denver Post
DENVER — The Denver Police Department plans to make sweeping changes to the way it disciplines police officers that will allow officers to replace fines and reprimands with training in the majority of discipline cases.
Chief Ron Thomas plans to add “education-based discipline” to the department’s discipline process in the near future, with the goal of using training to change officers’ behavior rather than doling out purely punitive discipline, he said.
The education-based discipline process would allow officers to opt for training instead of receiving an oral or written reprimand or up to two days of what’s called “fined time,” a penalty in which officers lose time off. Thomas expects the department could resolve such discipline cases in a handful of weeks, rather than in the six to nine months the traditional process typically takes.
The city’s Citizen Oversight Board and the Office of the Independent Monitor both oppose the proposed changes. The two groups provide independent oversight of the Denver Police Department.
“It’s been rushed, it’s ill-conceived, it hasn’t been community-engaged, and, you know, heck, what is the hurry with this?” said Julia Richman , chair of the Citizen Oversight Board.
The oversight board is concerned that the education-based discipline would cut independent oversight and serve as an “off-ramp” from the traditional discipline process that is regulated by Denver’s city charter, she said. Thomas said the new process would preserve independent oversight.
The chief had hoped to roll out the new approach at the start of 2025 but agreed to delay that launch when the two groups and others raised concerns about the proposal and the lack of community input into the new system.
Thomas reiterated his commitment to slow down and hear community feedback in an interview with The Denver Post , and said he wants to roll out the new system “sooner rather than later.”
“I do think, at the end of the day, this is going to be helpful,” he said.
“What the right thing to do would have been”
Education-based discipline would be allowed only for low-level professional infractions that result in a reprimand or up to two days of fined time, like failing to write a report or being discourteous, Thomas said. Officers can deduct fined time from their time-off banks, or can opt to work the fined hours on a regularly scheduled day off instead of deducting the hours from their balance, spokesman Doug Schepman said.
Over the last 10 years, about 76% of disciplinary cases that resulted in formal discipline short of termination — roughly 1,450 of 1,900 disciplinary cases — would have qualified for education discipline under that standard, according to the police department. Over that time frame, just over 400 cases — about 21% — resulted in suspensions, in which officers are banned from working for a period of time, and about 2.5% of cases resulted in three or more days of fined time.
Allegations of serious misconduct, like dishonesty, criminal acts, sexual misconduct or being drunk on duty, would not qualify for education-based discipline.
Under the proposed system, officers who opt in to education-based discipline will be required to complete specialized classes and courses that directly relate to the infractions they committed, Thomas said.
“So that once they complete their training, they have a clear understanding of what the right thing to do would have been in that situation, a clear understanding of what department expectations are and what community expectations are,” Thomas said. “I just think that’s a far better conclusion than giving someone an oral or written reprimand and then moving on. … This is not a way to escape discipline, this is a way to better handle discipline.”
He expects to develop much of the training in-house, through the department’s training academy and professional development staff.
Tyson Worrell , president of the Denver Police Protective Association , did not return a request for comment on this story.
The Office of the Independent Monitor learned of the proposed changes in early December, received a draft policy in early January and offered the police department recommendations on that policy in mid-March, monitor Lisabeth Pérez Castle said during an April 15 meeting of the Denver Task Force to Reimagine Policing and Public Safety.
“The OIM’s general position is that we do not agree with the approach or believe that it is necessary,” she said in a statement to The Post . “While additional training that targets demonstrated deficiencies is welcome, such training can be provided in addition to the discipline penalties required by the current discipline process. Further, the OIM is aware of no best practice research that suggests the introduction of an education-based discipline program improves officer accountability or outcomes for community members.”
The monitor’s office can’t discuss its recommendations publicly because the policy is still under development, Pérez Castle said.
Speeding up the discipline process
One of the main goals of the proposed new system is to speed up the discipline process, Thomas said.
Currently, an allegation of officer misconduct goes through an initial screening, then an in-depth investigation in which internal affairs officers collect evidence and interview witnesses and the subject officer. The case is then submitted to the Office of the Independent Monitor for review as to whether the investigation is complete or whether more work is needed.
Next, the city’s Conduct Review Office takes it on, then the case goes back to the Office of the Independent Monitor . After that, the disciplinary case is presented to the subject officer, then to Thomas for a recommendation on discipline, and then to the city’s executive director of public safety, who makes the final determination.
That process typically takes several months, Thomas said. Under the new system, the officer would have a chance to opt in to education-based discipline after the initial screening if the department determines the case is appropriate for education-based discipline, Thomas said, allowing the department to avoid the lengthy investigation and subsequent administrative back-and-forth.
“It isn’t necessarily an acknowledgment of guilt, it’s just an acknowledgment that this might be the better route for its resolution,” he said of the officer’s agreement to do the disciplinary training.
The Office of the Independent Monitor would have the opportunity to review cases flagged as eligible for education-based discipline and to object, Thomas said, though the department and officer would have the final call on what happens with the case.
“Their office will explain why they disagree and we will either say, ‘OK,’ or we will say, ‘We agree to disagree,’ and we will continue through the education-based discipline process and they will have the opportunity to call that out in their quarterly report,” Thomas said. “They are still engaged; we have no desire or thoughts toward excluding them from the process.”
Education-based discipline would be recorded on an officer’s record like other types of discipline, the chief said. Officers who received education-based discipline for initial infractions would not be offered education-based discipline again should they reoffend, Thomas said. Subsequent cases would go through the traditional channels.
Richman, the chair of the Citizen Oversight Board, understands what the department is trying to do and said most everyone agrees the current discipline process is too complicated and lengthy. She also does not oppose using education-based discipline to change officer behavior.
But the current proposal presents “all sorts of process issues,” she said.
“It doesn’t address the root cause of the problem, which is that the process needs improvements,” she said. “So we are addressing a symptom rather than the cause. Is that juice worth the squeeze? Or do we say, ‘How do we improve the process so people get to fair outcomes in a reasonable amount of time?’ ”
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