DENVER POLICE UNDER SCANDAL SPOTLIGHT

Series Of Misdeeds Take Their Toll

DENVER Despite a sharp decline in crime, Denver's finest are under the gun
in the worst series of police scandals since the city was known as the
"crooked cop capital of the United States" in the 1960s.

This week, the city paid $400,000 to the family of a man killed in a raid
at the wrong house, was fined $10,000 by a federal judge for failing to
cooperate with a police-brutality investigation, and swore in a new police
officer who admitted he once used cocaine and LSD.

Last month, Police Chief Tom Sanchez was ousted in the fallout from the
mistaken raid. Police also have been criticized--and cleared of wrongdoing
- - in recent beatings of three suspects while television crews taped them.

City Councilman Ed Thomas, who spent 22 years as a Denver Police officer,
observed the city has become one of the most prosperous in the nation under
Mayor Wellington Webb, with crime dropping 25 percent from 1992 to 1998.

But, he said, the police controversy could become "Webb's snowstorm,"
referring to a major snowstorm that crippled the city for a week, costing
then-Mayor Bill McNichols his job in the 1982 election.

Acting Police Chief Gerald Whitman said he does not believe the problems
are insurmountable.

"I think we are suffering from the same problems affecting other
departments. We're going to try to look at their problems and get ahead of
the curve. We want to prevent those things from happening," he said Friday.

The police force was last rocked by controversy of this magnitude when 54
police officers were charged with operating a burglary ring from 1954 to
1962 and became known as "The Burglars in Blue." Most were convicted and
went to prison.

"Cops would stand watch outside businesses and homes while colleagues stole
dresses and appliances and cracked safes," said historian Tom Noel. "With
perhaps a million dollars in ill-gotten gains, it made Denver the U.S.
crooked cop capital."

The recent spate of problems began in 1997 when officers were caught by a
television news camera beating Gil Webb Jr., whose vehicle smashed into a
patrol car and killed an officer. Webb is serving prison time after being
convicted of vehicular manslaughter, assault and driving a stolen car.

On Sept. 29, Ismael Mena, 45, was shot to death after officers broke into
his bedroom in a so-called no-knock raid on the wrong house. Police said he
threatened them with a gun.

Two police officers were cleared of wrongdoing. Officer Joseph Bini, who
requested the raid, is charged with perjury for allegedly lying when he
said he saw an informant going into Mena's house to get cocaine. The
correct target was a suspected drug house next door.

The shooting prompted a public outcry over no-knock raids. A panel
assembled by the mayor is considering a temporary ban.

City officials have agreed to pay $400,000 to Mena's family to settle
claims stemming from his death. Sanchez was forced to step down as police
chief after Bini was charged Feb. 4.

In a separate case, city attorneys have drawn the ire of a federal judge
who ordered them to release 3,000 internal-affairs files to attorneys
representing a man in a police brutality lawsuit.

The judge ruled the city had violated his earlier orders to hand over the
documents, and he fined Denver $10,000. City attorneys have appealed,
contending they were complying with the order.

That case arose from Matthew Combs' allegations that Police Officer Timothy
McAleer beat him unconscious after a 1998 traffic accident. Police have
denied the allegations.

One of the city's newest officers, Ellis Johnson, 40, was hired last year
even though he admitted that he had used LSD and cocaine. Sanchez opposed
the hiring but was overruled by Manager of Safety Butch Montoya.