Denver Police Monitor
Denver Police Monitor: Waste of Tax Money
By Daniel G. Jennings
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper is stooping to new lows in city government, he has figured out how to do nothing about the city’s problems while still wasting our tax money.
The best example of this is the creation of the office of police monitor. Faced with a police department that is little more than a disgrace, (officers shooting an unarmed elderly man asleep in his bed and allowing a rapist to run loose terrorizing citizens for days). Hickenlooper’s answer is to create something called a police monitor.
The Wednesday March 16 edition of The Denver Post* reported that Hickenlooper would hire Richard Rosenthal, a former California prosecutor, as Denver’s police monitor. What exactly Rosenthal will do is not clear, The Post reported that Rosenthal will investigate police wrongdoings and formulate policies about them. It didn’t say how the policies would be formulated or applied. Rosenthal would also make recommendations about police discipline but he wouldn’t have any actual powers to discipline problem cops.
Yes this move sounds impressive to the journalism school crowd at The Post but in real life it boils down to doing nothing and wasting tax money. There will be a new bureaucrat downtown sitting in a comfortable office, drawing a large salary with nice benefits and issuing reports. Nothing concrete will be done to improve the police department or make the citizens safer from criminals or incompetent cops.
Mr. Rosenthal will issue a batch of reports and recommendations to the police department. The cops will quietly file those recommendations away in a filing cabinet and go back to business as usual.
Meanwhile, the police monitor’s office will waste several hundred thousand of the taxpayers’ dollars. Mr. Rosenthal being a lawyer will command a salary of around $100,000 he’ll need a secretary, another $30,000-50,000, a paralegal, a research assistant, an investigator and couple of other staff members. Not to mention a city car to drive around in so he can interview the victims of police stupidity.
These impressive expenditures will do nothing to weed incompetent, unqualified or corrupt officers out of the police force or improve the police force’s performance. Rosenthal is a lawyer not a cop, he has never walked a beat or driven patrol. How is he an expert on improving police conduct? Other than writing policies that will make it harder for citizens to sue the city over police abuse there is little he can do. Incompetent cops will still be out on the street with guns shooting innocent citizens. The innocent citizens or their heirs will still sue the city and get big cash settlements. Mr. Rosenthal will be on hand to write reports about these abuses and issue recommendations.
Now imagine what would have happened, if instead of wasting our tax money expanding the bureaucracy Hickenlooper really tried to reform the Denver Police Department. He could have used that money to hire a highly professional top cop from a place like New York to be our police chief. He could have put a measure on the ballot giving the new police chief the power to fire incompetent officers without interference from the Civil Service Commission. He could have proposed a realistic police budget that gave the force adequate manpower and resources to do its job. He could have implemented the community police tactics that Rudi Giuliani used to improve the quality of life in New York.
But no Hickenlooper didn’t do that he hired a new bureaucrat. The citizens of Denver can rest easy knowing there is a new bureaucrat on duty in a comfortable office at the City and County Building. The mother whose child is gunned down by a poorly trained and unqualified Denver cop can rest easy knowing there is a new bureaucrat she can file a complaint with. The woman who is afraid to go after dark because the streets aren’t safe can rest easy because Mr. Rosenthal is busy downtown making recommendations about the police force.
It is time for the people of Denver to demand real police reform and less bureaucracy. It is also time for Denverites to start looking for a mayor who will push for real change and less bureaucracy.
By Daniel G. Jennings
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper is stooping to new lows in city government, he has figured out how to do nothing about the city’s problems while still wasting our tax money.
The best example of this is the creation of the office of police monitor. Faced with a police department that is little more than a disgrace, (officers shooting an unarmed elderly man asleep in his bed and allowing a rapist to run loose terrorizing citizens for days). Hickenlooper’s answer is to create something called a police monitor.
The Wednesday March 16 edition of The Denver Post* reported that Hickenlooper would hire Richard Rosenthal, a former California prosecutor, as Denver’s police monitor. What exactly Rosenthal will do is not clear, The Post reported that Rosenthal will investigate police wrongdoings and formulate policies about them. It didn’t say how the policies would be formulated or applied. Rosenthal would also make recommendations about police discipline but he wouldn’t have any actual powers to discipline problem cops.
Yes this move sounds impressive to the journalism school crowd at The Post but in real life it boils down to doing nothing and wasting tax money. There will be a new bureaucrat downtown sitting in a comfortable office, drawing a large salary with nice benefits and issuing reports. Nothing concrete will be done to improve the police department or make the citizens safer from criminals or incompetent cops.
Mr. Rosenthal will issue a batch of reports and recommendations to the police department. The cops will quietly file those recommendations away in a filing cabinet and go back to business as usual.
Meanwhile, the police monitor’s office will waste several hundred thousand of the taxpayers’ dollars. Mr. Rosenthal being a lawyer will command a salary of around $100,000 he’ll need a secretary, another $30,000-50,000, a paralegal, a research assistant, an investigator and couple of other staff members. Not to mention a city car to drive around in so he can interview the victims of police stupidity.
These impressive expenditures will do nothing to weed incompetent, unqualified or corrupt officers out of the police force or improve the police force’s performance. Rosenthal is a lawyer not a cop, he has never walked a beat or driven patrol. How is he an expert on improving police conduct? Other than writing policies that will make it harder for citizens to sue the city over police abuse there is little he can do. Incompetent cops will still be out on the street with guns shooting innocent citizens. The innocent citizens or their heirs will still sue the city and get big cash settlements. Mr. Rosenthal will be on hand to write reports about these abuses and issue recommendations.
Now imagine what would have happened, if instead of wasting our tax money expanding the bureaucracy Hickenlooper really tried to reform the Denver Police Department. He could have used that money to hire a highly professional top cop from a place like New York to be our police chief. He could have put a measure on the ballot giving the new police chief the power to fire incompetent officers without interference from the Civil Service Commission. He could have proposed a realistic police budget that gave the force adequate manpower and resources to do its job. He could have implemented the community police tactics that Rudi Giuliani used to improve the quality of life in New York.
But no Hickenlooper didn’t do that he hired a new bureaucrat. The citizens of Denver can rest easy knowing there is a new bureaucrat on duty in a comfortable office at the City and County Building. The mother whose child is gunned down by a poorly trained and unqualified Denver cop can rest easy knowing there is a new bureaucrat she can file a complaint with. The woman who is afraid to go after dark because the streets aren’t safe can rest easy because Mr. Rosenthal is busy downtown making recommendations about the police force.
It is time for the people of Denver to demand real police reform and less bureaucracy. It is also time for Denverites to start looking for a mayor who will push for real change and less bureaucracy.
posted by great one at 7:24 PM
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