Denver's Manager of Safety and outgoing Independent Police Monitor are at odds over the monitor's blistering assessment of the Denver Police Department's Internal Affairs Investigations.
Independent Monitor Richard Rosenthal released a report of Denver's Internal Affairs Department Thursday morning saying "bias on the part of Internal Affairs Bureau investigators and supervisors has been documented in many cases over the past year."
He pointed out how the Internal Affairs Bureau did not ask the right questions, did not interview the right people, and did not investigate quickly enough.
It got so heated Thursday evening, Rosenthal even asked the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division to investigate DPD.
"It is my opinion that the Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division needs to open an investigation into the Denver Police Department as the Department has established its inability to protect the public from police misconduct, including violations of civil rights," Rosenthal wrote in an emailed statement to news organizations.
Denver's Manager of Safety, Alex Martinez, issued the following response Thursday evening: "If Mr. Rosenthal truly believes an investigation by the Department of Justice is warranted, he should have requested it before now and not as an emotional response to my remarks that his criticisms are unwarranted."
Earlier in the day, Martinez questioned whether the Independent Monitor is the problem.
"For him to criticize without taking responsibility is highly problematic in my view," Martinez said.
Martinez said in the two months since he took office, he was bogged down by the monitor's constant questioning of DPD investigations. He noted Rosenthal had the right to question cops during internal affairs investigations, and characterized Rosenthal's criticism of DPD as "nit-picky."
"He's criticizing things that don't affect the final outcome," Martinez said.
Martinez also questioned whether Rosenthal was the problem, or whether there is a necessity for an independent monitor into the future.
"Has the independent monitor brought that value to the process of police discipline?" Martinez asked, without answering his own question. "I prefer to raise the question based on behavior of his today. It raises that concern with me. That's as far as I would go."
The Denver Mayor's Office says they will not comment on situation.
To read more of Rosenthal's report highlighting DPD's internal affairs department, please click here, http:www.9news.com/pdfs/disciplinaryreport.pdf
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