Meet the Three Finalists for Denver Independent Monitor Today

From 5:30 to 7 p.m. today, February 17, you can meet the three finalists for Denver Independent Monitor, the city official in charge of watching over the Denver police and sheriff departments, during a virtual community meeting.

Dana Walton-Macaulay, Joseph Lipari and Robert Booth will answer questions from members of the public and host service providers, including the Denver Alliance for Street Health Response, Servicios de la Raza, the Harm Reduction Action Center and the Denver Health Community Leadership Team. This event comes on the heels of a virtual meeting on February 16 that featured questions from faith leaders and advocates.

Walton-Macaulay currently serves as the deputy director of the Independent Police Review in Portland, Oregon, while Lipari is the police monitor in Boulder. Booth serves in the Colorado Attorney General’s Office as an assistant deputy attorney general.

During the February 16 meeting, Walton-Macaulay stressed that the agencies overseen by the Office of the Independent Monitor must “trust the work that we’re doing.”

Lipari noted that the office can use data to figure out whether use-of-force incidents across the board are racially disparate. And Booth talked about the importance of completing a thorough investigation on time, so the public can see results quickly.

In addition to taking part in the two virtual community meetings, the candidates are also speaking with city officials this week.

The next Denver Independent Monitor will be taking over for Gregg Crittenden, a senior deputy monitor who has been serving as the interim independent monitor since Nick Mitchell stepped down in late 2020. Mitchell had been on the job – originally created by then-Mayor John Hickenlooper in 2004 – since 2012. During his tenure, Mitchell investigated in-custody jail deaths and larger policing issues like the Denver Police Department’s chaotic and, at times, overly harsh response to the George Floyd protests in late May and June 2020.

Mitchell accepted a job overseeing reform in the Los Angeles County jail system, but he remains in Denver.

What’s different this time around for the selection process is that the Citizen Oversight Board, rather than the Denver mayor, will choose the final candidate, with Denver City Council then voting to approve the nomination. That’s the result of a charter change put on the ballot by the council, which voters approved in November 2021. The Citizen Oversight Board, which comprises nine citizens – four of whom are appointed by the mayor, four by the council, and one jointly by the mayor and the council – oversees the effectiveness of the Office of the Independent Monitor and advises the city on policies related to law enforcement and public safety.

Find the link for the February 17 meeting here.