Denver Police Rife With Discipline Problems

What do you do when the disciplinarians can't discipline their own....how are any of these incidents or people supposed to make us feel safer?

The Denver police force includes an officer found to have held a cocked gun to his wife's head, another who pushed a pregnant teen into concrete stairs, then placed his knee on her belly, and another with 21 disciplinary actions against him and 50 total complaints.

A review of court and Police Department records, some of which have never before been made accessible to the public, also shows the city has allowed officers convicted of drunken driving to remain on the force.

At least 25 officers remained on the force from January 1997 through September 2006 after they were punished for what the department calls "departure from the truth." In some other police departments, such a complaint, if sustained, can lead to immediate dismissal because it can be used by defense lawyers in criminal cases to challenge an officer's court testimony.

And the force also has persistent repeat offenders. Of 16 officers with 10 or more sustained complaints against them in the time period, only one has been fired. Three of those repeat offenders resigned, and one retired during that time.

It's all part of a discipline system top city officials say is broken and in need of a complete overhaul. Long-standing rules at the city require safety officials to consider past discipline when they impose new sanctions. That means the current administration feels bound by the decisions made by past, more lenient administrations.

In a recent federal court case, Al LaCabe, the city's safety manager, who is in charge of overseeing the Police Department, said not enough written guidelines exist for disciplining officers. He said the "comparative discipline" rule has backfired and caused numerous inconsistencies and problems.

Police Department officials say part of the reason repeat offenders slipped by is that LaCabe only recently started reviewing cases that didn't involve a suspension or termination. Department supervisors, who previously were able to mete out discipline for some classes of offenses, tended toward leniency.

Now the department's new independent monitor, Richard Rosenthal, who reviews police internal-affairs investigations, flags cases for LaCabe that he deems worthy of stiffer punishment or further investigation.

Some of the disciplined officers

Denver police Officer Karl Coleman: Has had 21 sustained violations and at least 50 investigations from January 1997 through September 2006. He was suspended without pay for an unspecified time and then reinstated to the force after he pleaded guilty to drunken driving after a collision in 2002.

Former Denver police Officer Damian Naranjo: Suspended for six days in connection with a March 15, 2001, incident outside a LoDo bar. Investigators found that he had a woman expose her breasts and buttocks. Investigators also determined that he used excessive force later that night while arresting a man. He resigned after a woman accused him of sexual assault at a LoDo bar in 2004, but his attorney says the resignation had nothing to do with that allegation, which resulted in no criminal charges.

Sgt. Lawrence Subia: Suspended without pay for 14 months for his role in misusing an informant in a setup 1988 house burglary. He pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors in connection with the case.

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Misconduct cases

A look at some of the misconduct cases against Denver police officers:

Officer Paul Hoskins remained on the force after putting sugar in the gas tank of the boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend. His superiors suspended him for 45 days. He didn't get fired until he staged himself as the victim of a hit-and-run accident in May 2002 after he slammed his vehicle into a parked car during a night of drinking.

Officer John Albo retired in 2005 with full benefits before investigators reviewed his third "departure from the truth" case. Investigators sustained the first two, and he was suspended but not terminated. In the first case, investigators determined he didn't tell the truth to his superiors in March 2002 when they confronted him about violating the department's pursuit policy. Investigators found in that case that he gave chase in his squad car without his siren or emergency lights while children were playing nearby.

Denver police Detective Michael Nuanes initially denied in September 2003 that he had used his personal camera to take photographs of a prostitute's genitals after an arrest. Nuanes, who remains on the force and declined to comment, later acknowledged to his superiors that, in addition to taking the photographs, which had no evidentiary value, he also made crude statements to the prostitute.

Sgt. Bob Silvas held a cocked gun to his wife's head in 1984 and threatened to kill her in front of another officer, court records show. Those records, contained in a federal lawsuit, also show Silvas was accused of unnecessary force in 1998 at a Broncos football game, in 1999 while breaking up a party at a home and in 1999 while making a traffic stop. He also has been involved in nine shooting incidents, five of them fatal, the records show. He could not be reached despite numerous telephone calls for comment. His discipline record shows he has not received more than a written reprimand since 1997 through September 2006. Records for after September 2006 were not available. Earlier discipline records for Silvas also were unavailable.

Detective Karon Price was found in 1997 to have used unnecessary force when he took a handcuffed pregnant 15-year-old and pushed her into a concrete stairway and then placed his knee on her abdomen. Price was ordered to work for free at the department for seven days. Price said in an interview that despite the sustained violation, the event occurred differently than the internal affairs investigation determined.

Kurt Peterson, now a detective in the bomb squad, and his partner, since retired, admitted destroying evidence from more than 80 drug cases. They pleaded guilty to abuse of public records and second-degree official misconduct. Their lawyer, David Bruno, said at their sentencing that the gang officers destroyed marijuana or paraphernalia instead of taking the 45 to 60 minutes necessary to drive to headquarters.

Denver Post