Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey could soon find himself embroiled in the Black Lives Matter protests as a result of his track record as regards his lack of willingness to ever bring charges against a police officer and his recent decision not to pursue charges against Denver deputies that were involved in the 11/24/15 death of a black man in their custody. Although that man, Michael Marshall, had heart failure after these deputies subdued him, they were able to revive him to the point where his heart started beating again.  He was then transported to a hospital where he later died.

Prior to this incident, during late January 2015, the DA wrote a letter that criticized Denver Executive Director of Safety Stephanie O’Malley on the terminology she used in her written notice firing two Denver Deputies who used excessive force on inmates. In essence, he lectured her on her office’s findings which justified the firing and questioned whether those findings had been embellished.

Although the president of the police union had praised Ms. O’Malley and said “I think she’ll be fair when it comes to discipline…” when Mayor Michael Hancock first appointed her as Manager of Safety in December of 2013, since that time, the union’s relationship with Ms. O’Malley has soured and they are also at odds with her. This is not uncommon based on other situations around the country that have occurred when police officers were disciplined or even simply reprimanded for their actions.  Perhaps it is just the nature of the job when it comes to unions and those responsible to discipline their members.

The thing that strikes me as odd, however, is how the DA chose to address this issue. DA’s are usually the ones who insist on keeping things in-house while an investigation is going on or an appeal is pending.  In this particular case the deputies that were fired are appealing Director O’Malley’s decision.  But just like it is the nature of the job for relationships to sour between unions and those responsible to discipline their members, perhaps it is also the nature of the job for politics to come into play when politicians are among those involved in solving the problem.

Whether or not politics is involved in the feud between DA Mitch Morrissey and Safety Director O’Malley is not the point of this article. The point is that there is a movement – led by Black Lives Matter –  against excessive force by police that is taking place across the country.  There are situations like those that have occurred in New York City, Baltimore, Cleveland and many other places that have spiraled out of control; situations that might have been mitigated if the elected officials and other leaders in those cities and states had been ahead of the curve and prepared for them.  That is the point of this article and the reason for the following admonition.

Denver is a wonderful, forward-looking city with great amenities and more are constantly being added. Right now, though we have our problems, our city is relatively calm and divisiveness is not a major problem.  But signs of what has occurred and is still ongoing in the previously mentioned places are beginning to flare up more often here.  These things are garnering more and more attention from the press and in this case, that is not a good sign.

We do not want our city, Mayor Hancock, members of the city council and other civic leaders to have to struggle through what the aforementioned cities are continuing to struggle through. We want Denver’s citizens to be spared the turmoil and pain that the citizens in places like New York City, Baltimore, Cleveland and many other cities around America are contending with.

Perhaps we can help Denver to avoid this problem by letting our city and state leaders know that we want them to get ahead of the curve and figure out how to stop this problem before it gains good footing. Contacting your city council member might be a good place to start:  I’m certainly going to mention it to my councilwoman, Stacie Gilmore, at our next District 11 Town Hall Community Meeting on February 11th.

Remember, I said contacting your city council member is a good place to start not to end. Elected state officials should also be on your list of those to contact as well as any others that you believe would be beneficial in helping to assure that this potential problem is addressed expeditiously, mitigated – or if possible, prevented.  After all, we don’t just want Denver to continue to be a great city to live in; we want Colorado to continue to be a great state to live in!

Eulus Dennis