STRATEGY 4

Heal the community from harm created by policing and the criminal legal system.

Heal the Community from Harm

The trust and relationship between DPD and the community have fractured. The relationship was already fraught when the George Floyd Protests began last May; by responding aggressively to demonstrations against police brutality, DPD further undermined their credibility and caused untold damage to the community they are charged to protect. Changing these negative orientations requires disrupting this process and adopting a trauma-informed approach, reflected in the Strategy 4 recommendations, to community healing that centers on the complexities of trauma to protect survivors and prevent additional harm. To that end, DPD can most effectively build trust and promote healing through radical transparency and a sincere commitment to changing the problematic aspects of police culture that produce and perpetuate trauma.

STRATEGY 4 RECOMMENDATIONS

Heal the community from harm created by policing and the criminal legal system.

  • 75 : Implement new standards for DPD interaction with community members that are determined by community members via an open transparent and collaborative process in partnership with the Office of the Independent Monitor, Citizen Oversight Board, Civil Service Commission and Re-Imagining Policing Community Taskforce.

  • 76 : Provide culturally competent and mandatory (as a condition of employment) routine mental health supports for officers to address the trauma associated with witnessing and intervening in violence.

  • 77 : Change the DPD internal investigation process and ensure internal procedural justice and accountability for officers who experience discrimination, targeting, bullying or silencing for speaking against injustice. This requires the Internal Affairs Bureau and Public Integrity Division be hired, fired and supervised NOT by Denver Police Department nor Sheriff’s but instead the Manager of Safety.

  • 78 : Fund the District Attorney and Municipal Public Defender’s Office equitably to ensure caseload, facility and job classification parity.

  • 79 : Implement mandatory annual training for every DPD officer on anti-racism and asset-based community development led by external BIPOC diversity and inclusion experts and allow community participation or monitoring to ensure quality.

  • 80 : Prohibit the use of handcuffs, pepper spray, or physical restraints of any kind on minors.

  • 81 : Prohibit the use of Denver Police Department Gang Unit and all militarized responses and “mutual aid” from surrounding municipalities in Denver-based protests and riots if there has not been documented proof of cross training of officers on Denver policies, procedures and ordinances. In the event that mutual aid ever occurs, every single officer assisting must be identifiable to the public by badge or nametag and some unique municipality identifier and Denver Police Department must log every name and post of every officer assisting and a commanding officer in DPD must assume all liability for anyone assisting.

  • 82 : Prioritize family unification for children separated from parents/guardians by allowing persons-involved to choose whose care they are placed in.

  • 83 : Mandatory cross-agency training for law enforcement inclusive of but not limited to: public health, human services, community engagement and housing approaches.

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