The Denver Post: he Denver Police Department is quietly rolling out a significant change in how officer misconduct is handled, and the public has never seen the policy or had a chance to weigh in. Under this new approach, called education-based development (formerly discipline), officers accused of wrongdoing could be diverted into coaching or retraining instead of facing formal consequences. While this may seem reasonable at first, a closer look reveals concerning flaws.

This policy wasn’t developed with the necessary transparency, nor was it shaped through meaningful community input.  Initially, the Office of the Independent Monitor wasn’t even given an opportunity to review the draft policy, as is required by city ordinance. Even now, the community has yet to see any actual policy language. That’s a problem.

More than two decades ago, Denver voters created a clear, community-driven oversight structure with the city’s police discipline ordinance. The system centers on the Office of the Independent Monitor, community input, and a formal disciplinary matrix. But education-based development could bypass all of that. The current proposal estimates that up to 85% of misconduct cases could be diverted outside this structure, circumventing the independent oversight that voters demanded in 2004.

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