SUPERVISORS MAY BE SCRUTINIZED IN BINI NO-KNOCK CASE

Police department must 'step up, accept' burden in shooting, says
safety manager

A day after announcing punishment for a Denver cop for a botched
no-knock warrant, officials said it's possible that other officers
will be disciplined in the case.

Denver Manager of Safety Ari Zavaras said officials were looking at
the type of supervision given to officer Joseph Bini, who listed the
wrong address on an affidavit for a no-knock drug warrant.

As a result, the department's Metro SWAT team was sent to the wrong
house on Sept. 29, 1999, and Ismael Mena died in a shootout with
officers.

Zavaras said it was necessary for the police department to "step up
and accept its responsibility for what happened."

Part of that, he said, would be examining the role supervisors might
have played in the faulty affidavit.

"If any other issues were to surface, we wouldn't hesitate to pursue
them," Zavaras said at an afternoon news conference.

Although no other officers have been disciplined, Zavaras said he
couldn't rule it out, depending on what officials find.

Bini was given a three-month suspension after his conviction on a
charge of official misconduct, a misdemeanor. He had initially been
accused of felony perjury, but that charge was dropped in a plea
agreement.

He has been suspended since he was charged a year ago, and he will be
given nine months' back pay.

Zavaras said once Bini completes drug, psychological, physical and
polygraph tests, he will be assigned to a desk job. It is not clear
how soon that will happen.

Since the botched raid, Denver has revamped the process officers must
go through to obtain no-knock warrants. For example, street officers
are required to work with a detective in drug cases. And throughout
the process, officers are required to get the approval of supervisors.

Mena's supporters blasted Zavaras' decision, which continued to
reverberate Tuesday in Denver.

Councilwoman Ramona Martinez criticized the decision to let Bini keep his job.

"Bringing back Joseph Bini to the Denver Police Department as an
officer is the wrong decision, and clearly sends the wrong message to
the citizens of the city and county of Denver and members of the
police department," Martinez said in a statement.

Martinez has been critical of the department policies that she
thought led to the botched raid, but this is the first time she has
spoken publicly against Bini.

"As we struggle to bring our police force to the level for a major
city, we can ill afford to place Joseph Bini on a desk job when
officers are needed in traffic and other departments," said Martinez,
who chairs the City Council personnel and public safety committee.
"We need officers that can make good judgment decisions."

Zavaras said the decision he made in consultation with Police Chief
Gerry Whitman was the fairest given all the cirumstances.

"The easy thing for me to have done on this would have been to fire,
and let the process play, and I'm at arm's length," Zavaras said.
"However, it wouldn't have been the right thing."

Among the factors taken into consideration was whether the city could
uphold the firing of Bini if he appeals, said Andrew Hudson,
spokesman for Mayor Wellington Webb.

"There was a very real sense -- and believe me it was discussed --
about what the ramifications of terminating officer Bini would have
been," Hudson said. "It was explained to the mayor that it would be
difficult, if not impossible, to uphold if it was challenged on an
appeal."

David J. Bruno, the defense lawyer for Bini, said the decision by
Zavaras to keep his client in the force has fairly put some of the
responsibility on the department and not entirely on the officer.

"Joe has always accepted his level of responsibility," Bruno said.

Bruno added that he was confident in Bini's ability to serve Denver's
citizens again.

"When we had the sentencing there were letters from members of
community, religious groups, schools and from nearly every facet of
the community he touched," Bruno said. "Without exception every one
of them welcomed him back."

Former state Sen. Jim Congrove spent two years getting a bill passed
by the Colorado General Assembly to strengthen standards for getting
a no-knock warrant. The former undercover narcotics detective said he
believed Bini clearly made mistakes but was also the victim of a
faulty system.

Staff writer Michele Ames contributed to this report.