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Lawmakers, the Denver Police Department and its watchdog agency are calling the community-police mediation program a success, though some critics aren’t convinced that the “show pony” is all its cracked up to be.

The Office of the Independent Monitor (OIM) — a city agency that provides civilian oversight of the Denver Police and Sheriff Departments — has implemented a mediation program between law enforcement officers and members of the community for the past three years. The voluntary program allows Denverites who believe they have been mistreated by a law enforcement officer to meet with the officer face to face and discuss the incident with the help of the mediator.

“After more than 160 mediations, the program has achieved overwhelmingly good results,” writes Denver City Councilwoman Judy Montero on her Web site. “Compared to traditional complaint-handling process (such as an “internal investigation”), OIM’s mediation program is far more likely to produce an outcome that satisfies both the complainant and the police officer.”

But Art Way of the Colorado Progressive Coalition said that no one he has talked with has spoken favorably of the mediation program. In fact, when he took over his job, Way’s predecessor and other community organizers went out of their way to tell him that mediation is not a good move, he said.

“Most people felt it was not an objective situation,” he said. “Nobody really felt like there was any true heart to heart or anything going on.”

If a citizen complaint is brought to mediation, the officer in the case cannot be disciplined. Denver chief of police Gerry Whitman said most of the officers appreciate having the mediation process as an additional way of solving citizen complaints.

“I think the officers look at it as an opportunity to explain their actions and the majority of the time to understand the reason for the interaction and the problem that occurred so both sides can be a lot happier,” he said. 

Richard Rosenthal of the OIM and Whitman said that most people who file citizen complaints against a law enforcement officer want to be heard and get answers. Most community members aren’t concerned with getting the officer in trouble, which makes mediation a good way to go, they said.

Additionally, the citizen complaints, which are often related to discourtesy and improper procedure, are usually cases with little chance of being proven in the judicial process, according to Rosenthal.

To support their claim that the mediation program works, the OIM points to a 70-80 percent satisfaction rate and statistics showing that officers who go to mediation tend to get fewer complaints afterwards. 

However, Way is skeptical of the numbers, saying he doesn’t know if the lack of complaints the officers receive after mediation is a result of a “mind-blowing event” or because they don’t want to go through the mediation process again. Though he acknowledged that mediation is “better than nothing,” he said the program is the “show pony that (OIM) throws out there.”

“The mediation allows (OIM) to maintain within the good graces of the police officers and at the same time say that they’re doing something for the community,” he said. “But (OIM) still hasn’t changed the imbalance of power in the city of Denver that’s heavily weighted towards the officers.”

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