A citizen watchdog board is calling for independent oversight of settlements in lawsuits involving Denver’s police and sheriff’s departments, saying it found the city has failed to comply with all of the non-monetary terms required by several high-profile agreements or “has missed opportunities for a real change” by barely meeting them.
Denver’s Citizen Oversight Advisory Board sent an open letter Friday to Mayor Mike Johnston and City Council President Jaime Torres, along with the city auditor, the Department of Public Safety’s executive director, the city attorney, and the city’s independent law enforcement monitor.
In the six-page letter, the board notes that since the new City Council started in July, the elected body has approved payouts of more than $9.5 million for 18 settlements related to Denver police. Since 2022, the council has approved more than $17.3 million in settlements related to the Department of Public Safety.
The nine-member board acknowledged financial payouts in lawsuit settlements are more public than some other terms, such as training being required to fix underlying issues. But “these non-monetary provisions are often critical to making systems level or structural changes that can help prevent and avoid future harm,” the board’s members wrote.
The citizen board said its review of multiple cases with public settlement agreements showed the city also hasn’t used opportunities to build trust by telling people what changes are being made.
Armando Saldate, executive director of the Department of Public Safety, which oversees Denver’s police and sheriff’s departments, disputed the board’s contention that the city hadn’t fulfilled some settlement terms.
“While the (Citizen Oversight Board) may hold opinions that the settlement agreements should have been negotiated differently, the department has complied with the terms that were agreed upon and will continue to be transparent and share improvements with the public to enhance trust in public safety,” Saldate said in a statement Friday.
The mayor’s office, in an unsigned statement, said the Johnston administration is committed to accountability and open to meeting with the board. “Citizens’ trust that the city will enforce and follow through with settlement agreements is crucial, and we will continue to work diligently to ensure we meet Denverites’ expectations,” the mayor’s office said.
But Torres, in a reply sent to Citizen Oversight Board chair Julia Richman, said she and other City Council members share the board’s concerns about compliance with settlements.
“Every incident, every settlement should have transformational response to an improved level of community and institutional trust,” Torres wrote. “We welcome an opportunity to meet to discuss a more responsive and responsible future.”
Because the city doesn’t make all the terms of settlement agreements public, the Citizen Oversight Board, in its letter, spotlighted several high-profile cases in which all requirements were published. They include:
- The 2015 death in the Denver jail of Michael Marshall, who was suffering a psychotic episode and died after he aspirated on his vomit while being restrained face-down by deputies for more than 10 minutes by deputies
- The 2011 jail assault case of Jamal Hunter, who was attacked by other prisoners and choked by a deputy he’d filed a grievance against
- The 2006 city jail death of Emily Rice, who was ignored and didn’t get necessary medical treatment before she bled to death
The board detailed numerous issues in these settlements, including not keeping necessary compliance reports, sending irregular or inconsistent reports, not completing a final investigative report, not publishing investigative findings, and not fully complying with other requirements.
In Rice’s case, the settlement requirement for a Denver Sheriff Department training video “failed to acknowledge the mistakes DSD deputies had made, significantly diminishing the video’s training value,” and a requirement governing the resolution of conflicts with medical staff, if it had been followed, “may have prevented the death of inmate Leroy Taylor after his medical emergency in February 2022,” the board wrote.
The board also pointed out that the “vast majority” of the city’s public safety settlements involve the Denver Police Department, yet most of the publicly available settlement terms involved agreements to settle cases brought against the Denver Sheriff Department.
“Our review of these settlements… is sufficient for this Board to conclude that a measure of independent oversight of settlements is warranted — not just for legal reasons, but for the welfare of the Denver community as well,” the board wrote in its letter.
The board requested a meeting with the Department of Safety, the City Attorney’s Office, the Office of the Independent Monitor and the City Auditor’s Office.
“We believe that improving oversight of settlement agreements will meaningfully contribute to both better operational outcomes and a greater degree of community trust in City government and the (Department of Safety) in particular,” the board wrote. “A focus on improving policy and process involving public safety settlements will reduce community harm and the risk of additional claims and settlements.”
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