Independent monitor urges delay, transparency if Denver Police adopt 'education‑based discipline'

Denver’s independent monitor told the City Council Health and Safety Committee on July 1 that she does not support a proposed change in police discipline known as education‑based discipline, raising concerns that the approach would reduce sustained policy findings, weaken oversight and decrease public accountability unless strict conditions and publicly available draft language are provided.

“The OIM does not support education‑based discipline. We do not agree with the approach or believe it is necessary,” Elizabeth Bettis Castle, Denver’s independent monitor, said during a committee briefing. Castle told council members that while training is appropriate “in addition to discipline penalties,” the proposed approach appears to substitute training for discipline in ways that would remove the sustained findings and prevent prior misconduct from serving to aggravate future discipline.

Why it matters: Castle argued that changes to the department’s disciplinary model would alter the balance between the Denver Police Department (DPD) and the city’s civilian oversight structures, including the Office of the Independent Monitor (OIM) and the Citizen Oversight Board. She said the OIM’s ordinance‑based role includes reviewing law…