The conversation covered topics related to law enforcement communication, including transparency, performance and accountability with the public. The Denver Sheriff Department and its jail partnership with Denver Health and court settlements that are approved by Denver City Council also came up.
After pleasantries and tacos, the dialogue started civil but became tense and uncomfortable at times once Saldate began taking questions.
One exchange in particular between the Public Safety head and a female civilian — who asked him a question about appealing disciplinary decisions related to complaints filed against city servants — ended up opening old wounds for the woman related to past trauma involving the DPD.
"It was very uncomfortable," the woman, who asked to go by TC, said after the meeting.
Back in 2022, TC told Westword about a DPD officer who made "unwanted advances" and harassed her in 2017 after she applied to be part of Colorado's Address Confidentiality Program for a prior incident in which she was a victim of sexual assault. The cop, who had previously been disciplined for having sex with a prostitute, reached out to her using his personal cell phone and tried to pursue a relationship with her. He wound up getting a slap on the wrist, receiving a two-day suspension without pay for his actions in 2018.
TC and Saldate's bad blood stems from a Public Safety order that falsely suggested TC and the cop she accused of harassment had been involved in a consensual relationship. Saldate, who was appointed by former mayor Michael Hancock, was tasked with revising the order to change specific language; he did, but left words and statements in the report that TC said don't "reflect any of the truth."
She told Westword that she hadn't planned to talk about her story or situation at the April 9 meeting, but did so after Saldate revealed that she was "a complainant" with a prior case.
Transparency and Accountability
"What is the process, or is there one, for disputing or appealing a decision from a previously submitted claim to Internal Affairs or the Independent Monitor?" TC asked Saldate at first.According to Saldate, there is a formalized process for city servants to appeal disciplinary actions taken against them, but not one for complainants.
"For, like, a complainant — as in your case — in appealing the process, I wouldn't say there is a formalized process," Saldate said. "I will tell you, my process is you could appeal to me. And we could talk through the process, through the investigation process. We obviously work with the complainant about that."
TC told Westword after the event that she couldn't believe Saldate had outed her as a victim.
"I thought it was very inappropriate," she said. "That's not an appropriate thing to bring up at a meeting. Just because I ask a question that's pertinent to something I experienced with DOS does not give him the right to sort of give hints to the audience of our interactions."
TC went on to explain her story to people in attendance, saying: "I have spoken to several directors and to the Department of Safety, to really no conclusion. So I don't think that there is a really clear process where I don't agree with the decision and ask what are my next steps — because if officers and firefighters and other employees are given the opportunity to appeal, the same respect needs to be extended to the person that's making a complaint."
A little over two dozen people showed up to the Citizen Oversight Board meeting on April 9.
Chris Perez
"We've spoken about your case in the past," he went on. "I've tried to resolve what I could. I will tell you that I am open to, if there is an appeal process or things you may want...I'm always willing to listen. I do this for victims, I do this for folks who are affected. Obviously, what happened to you, I don't want to ever happen. So I am always willing to listen to feedback to where we can improve the experience that victims and complainants have."
TC asked how DOS can make these offers and information more transparent to the community and to somebody who "doesn't maybe know the ins and outs, or doesn't know people within the Independent Monitor or other agencies and departments."
Specifically, she wanted to know if a person submits a complaint and doesn't agree with the outcome, how do they know what the next steps are to appeal? How do they know to reach out to DOS or Saldate?
"Well, everything I've done I've tried to lead with transparency," Saldate responded. "We try to make our process, our decisions, anything that we're doing with discipline, especially, we try to make that transparent. The Citizen Oversight Board amplifies that...and I am always committed to that."
Court Settlement Disputes
In addition to fielding TC's questions, Saldate went back and forth with others in attendance over issues like halfway house beds and the handling of court settlements by the city, with him getting frustrated at times."I've been clear on this; they don't live with us," Saldate told a COB member after being asked to talk about the scope and next steps related to the board's findings in its 2023 report that the city has failed to disclose and comply with non-monetary terms related to settlements.
"These aren't agreements that are executed by anyone on my team," he said. "These are city attorney-executed settlements...they are the custodians of record. I am more than willing to help facilitate that, which I am doing right now, to make sure we get those agreements and those settlements."
Saldate added, "I am more than open, as I have said, to talk about those and be transparent about those."
COB member Stefan Stein noted during Tuesday's meeting how the Denver City Attorney's Office told the board that the Department of Safety was involved in handling the settlements and should be contacted directly, not the city attorney.
"I don't know why you were sent back to me," Saldate said. "I literally do not have them."
Denver’s Public Safety Department oversees Denver Police, Denver Fire, Denver 911, Denver Sheriff, Community Corrections, Public Safety Youth Programs, the Office of Community Violence Solutions and the Public Safety Cadet Program. DOS officials are said to be working on a website that will be available for residents to see what sort of corrective actions or training are being implemented by these entities following a court settlement and to keep the public informed on the progress.
The COB went over concerns and recommendations published in its 2023 report on Tuesday night for the DPD, DOS and DSD. Several were related to past asks that haven't been addressed, including recommendations from 2022 about accountability measures related to complaints about poor performance or misconduct from Denver Health employees at jails, and the need to acquire a "public-facing" module for the internal DOS complaint database.
But, as with TC's case, off-topic issues also got a lot of attention, like how the city's migrant influx in recent years has affected public safety and department budgets.
"While certainly it does have a budget impact...it's not having an impact on the services being provided to the community," said DPD Chief Thomas, adding that there have been no significant increases in crime.
"That's one of the things that we were concerned about," Sheriff Diggins told attendees about the crime aspect. "That generally means a rise in those kept in custody. You can look at our dashboard...and you can see there has not been a significant increase for us, and that is very telling."
