WEBB PLOTS POLICE REFORM

Sixteen hours after naming an interim police chief, Denver
Mayor Wellington Webb on Thursday laid out the basics of what could
become big changes in the city's police department and the cornerstone
for his tenure in office.

In a word, Webb described what he wants to see when the department and
the city's residents come together: Respect.

"The appointment of a police chief does not change the culture of the
department and my goal is to create a culture of excellence within the
department that breeds respect among the citizens and among the
police," Webb told The Denver Post's editorial board.

He refused to characterize the department's troubles as serious or
disabling, but acknowledged that sweeping changes are needed to put it
back on track - with itself and with the public.

Webb said he wants:

A blanket rejection of any police academy applicant who has ever used
cocaine. The city will now accept a candidate who hasn't used drugs in
the last year. Webb said it was the outcry over the city's hiring of
Ellis Johnson, an admitted former drug user and thief, that caused him
to tell Manager of Safety Butch Montoya to toss any applicant who has
any history of cocaine use.

Early retirement incentives for the department's "old
guard"

veterans, many of whom are resistant to Webb's commitment to community
policing, and the promotion of younger, more modernthinking officers
into those command positions.

Public access to discipline cases in order to restore confidence in
how the department polices itself. Discipline cases currently are
protected by personnel privacy laws and only occasionally are made
public. Some high-profile police shootings and car chases prompted
this decision, Webb said.

A reduction in the number of no-knock search warrants, although Webb
said his initial decision was to ban them completely. A thorough
review of how high-speed chases are conducted, and why, if at all,
they are necessary.

A re-examination of where officers are assigned and whether they
belong in those jobs. Webb cited deep-rooted factions within the
department that keep animosity alive and progress at bay.

Councilman Ed Thomas, an outspoken critic of Webb's handling of the
department and several highprofile mistakes it's made, was surprised
the mayor was so emphatic.

"The way things have been going, five years from now we'll be facing
the same problems as those in Los Angeles," Thomas said. "I pray that
doesn't happen, but it's a possibility and the fact that the mayor is
closing the door tighter on those opportunities is a sigh of relief."
But Thomas was not happy that Webb defends the need for the manager of
safety's office, which Thomas has called unnecessary, and specifically
the appointment of Montoya.

Webb said Montoya retains the job that oversees the jail and the
police and fire departments because "Butch is salvageable." Webb said
his reform ideas are prompted by a department that is showing
"symptoms of problems we have to address," but he insisted the
department "is not out of control."

Whether these proposed changes - many of which will need city council
or civil service commission approval - will ever be enacted and
whether they will fix the problems is still anybody's guess, even Webb's.

"How do we take an institution that's not had any change and raise the
bar where it should be?" Webb asked. "That's a question I've been
asking myself and many others." Among those Webb said he's consulted
are noted police reformers such as James Bratton, the former chief in
Boston who took New York City by storm and turned the department - and
the city's escalating crime rate - around.

"I've been told that it's healthy for the mix for someone outside the
department to come in and break up the factions that exist," Webb said
of his indecision between an internal or external choice for police
chief.

Police union spokesman John Wyckoff said he'll not comment on Webb's
proposals until he hears them from the mayor.

"I'm not sure it would be appropriate," Wyckoff said.

The mayor is scheduled to meet with the Denver Police Protective
Association next week, Wyckoff said.

How the department will meet its future needs depends a lot on its
command structure. But the department's upper echelon is choked with
veterans who could retire now, Webb said. Department estimates range
as high as 400 for the number of officers who have at least 25 years
on the job.

"Maybe we need to provide them incentives to take early retirement, to
get them to leave in July rather than a year or more from now," Webb
said. "That frees up opportunities for others to move up . . . rather
than stand around being disenchanted and grousing."

The idea met with some cautious optimism by department
vets.

"If they offered me something, I'd look it over," said Detective Ken
Delmonico, the department's senior officer, with 40 years on the job.
"They gave the sheriff's department a one-time offer and paid their
medical insurance until they were 72 and a lot took advantage of
that." Detective Belt Harlan wasn't as enthusiastic and pointed out
that officers plan for their retirement independent of the city's
offers. "Incentives won't help," Harlan said. "Most of the guys are
going to retire when they want to. Most of them have already set the
time they go."