COP WHO RAN EVIDENCE ROOM FIGHTS PENALTY

A Denver police captain with a nearly flawless 30-year record has joined a
sergeant in challenging suspensions they received for ineptly running the
department's property room.

About $100,000 and several guns came up missing from the property room in
2000, as well as 16 stashes of confiscated drugs. Early last year - months
after an investigation was launched to find the missing money - $5,000 from
an FBI case also disappeared.

Even though the money, guns and drugs were never found - and no one was
charged in connection with their disappearance - Capt. Miriam Reed and Sgt.
Ronald Hanna were slapped with suspensions in 2001 for running the room
poorly, according to Civil Service Commission records.

Reed, who was suspended for 10 days without pay, filed an appeal Dec. 19,
and Hanna appealed his six-day suspension in June. Both cases are to be
presented to a hearing officer by March.

A third property room officer was suspended four days, but that penalty has
not been challenged.

Despite problems brought to them by subordinates, Reed and Hanna "failed to
address the problems or even document them," according to a department
discipline letter.

"Employees received no direction, consistent policies or training, and as a
result, many employees did not feel compelled to do their jobs," the letter
says. The department also accused Hanna of not knowing proper procedures
for handling evidence and eliminating "important procedures because he
believed them to be redundant."

In documents filed with the commission, Reed called the discipline - the
first of a department captain in several years - an "abuse of discretion."
Hanna said his suspension was retribution because he supported Reed during
the investigation, according to the documents.

The two were transferred to other jobs when the investigation began, but
several former subordinates are still in the property room.

The property room has "lost more money since we left," Reed told The Post.
"This is strictly retaliation against me." Hanna could not be reached.

The missing property was discovered days after Gerry Whitman's appointment
as interim chief in February 2000 following the forced resignation of Chief
Tom Sanchez.

The disappearance prompted an internal investigation that took months to
complete - but only uncovered problems with management of the property
section, not what happened to the money and drugs. The scandal surfaced
after two envelopes containing about $30,000 - related to a pair of drug
prosecutions - came up missing.

Weeks later, Whitman upped the amount missing to $100,000, added a
half-dozen missing guns and drugs to the list, and said they all came from
about 11 pending criminal cases.

"We've searched and didn't find any of it. I was hoping we'd find it or
find someone to prosecute," Whitman told The Post recently.

Whitman refused to comment on the appeals, but said no evidence ever was
given to prosecutors for consideration. After its own investigation, the
district attorney's office said no one could be charged.

Whitman blames the ordeal on "a records management problem," noting that
some of the money likely has been missing since 1992. He predicted problems
will be avoided now because of a new computer system and other safeguards.

Reed claims the record-keeping problems preceded her. "Nevertheless," she
said, "I'm the one getting disciplined. What about all the other
supervisors under whose command money had been missing before me?"

Reed had been in charge of the evidence room before. In 1995, she was sent
there by Chief David Michaud after he demoted her from division chief
following Reed's public criticism of the department's domestic violence
training. Reed also was a vocal backer of Mary DeGroot for mayor instead of
Wellington Webb.

The demotion prompted Reed to sue Michaud and others for allegedly
violating her First Amendment rights to free speech. A jury decided in May
1999 that Reed's rights were violated, but that her demotion wasn't
retaliatory.

Civil Service Commission records show Reed was disciplined just three
previous times in her career - all for minor offenses. The last occurred in
1976. Hanna's last discipline was in 1991 for not qualifying on his
firearm, only the fourth discipline in his 27-year police career.