There’s a new police chief in town and his name is Paul “Smiley” Pazen. He was selected by Mayor Michael Hancock and was sworn in on July 9, 2018. The new police chief certainly has his work cut out for him especially when it comes to the ‘Use of Force’ policy. As of June 29, 2018, the new ‘Use of Force’ policy had not yet been completed and implemented. Despite that notable complication, in an interview with Westword, Chief Pazen said that all new police officers and other officers, no matter how long they had been on the police force, would be thoroughly trained in this new policy. Chief Pazen has been on the Denver police force for almost 24 years.
The new ‘Use of Force’ policy was thoroughly vetted by Denver business leaders and community members prior to June 29 and its current consideration for implementation as soon as possible. During that vetting, many community members felt that the policy contained too many vague and ambiguous statements regarding exactly what would instigate and allow for the ‘use of force’ by police officers and many felt that these statements remained in the policy as of June29th. Whether those statements will be modified in any way or deleted prior to implementation is not yet known.
This is the first time that I have addressed local politics for quite some because I, like many others who follow politics closely, have been totally engrossed in national politics as the result of the election of Mr. Trump. His antics since he was elected have regularly sucked all of the air out of the federal and local political arena and left room only for himself. Whenever the media slows on covering him he ups the ante of his endless lies and foolishness. He relishes and ravels in the coverage that he receives from the press whether it is positive or negative. I stated in a couple of my previous post to this blog that I would work hard not to fall into the same rut as the mainstream media as regards Mr. Trump. Yet, the fact that for such a long time I have failed to keep abreast of local politics and post articles on them to this site shows that my level of success when it comes to meeting that goal has been, at best, minimal.
However, if you have visited this site regularly and been reading the articles posted on it, you should have gotten the message that all Americans need to get informed and fulfill their duty to vote in all elections that they are eligible to vote in whether they are local, state or federal level. Hopefully by now you are aware that our very Republic is at risk as a result of Mr. Trump’s unorthodox style of leadership. Hopefully you are aware that he and/or his campaign are suspected of colluding with Russia in meddling in the 2016 election in which the American intelligence community has stated unequivocally that Russia interfered in the election to hurt Secretary Clinton and to help Mr. Trump. Hopefully you are aware that Mr. Trump is trashing our intelligence community, taking Russia’s side and promulgating its perspective on world order and cozying up to president Vladimir Putin and choosing to believe him over America’s intelligence community.
What makes things even more frightening is that our spineless Republican-led congress is not only avoiding using its powers of checks and balances against Mr. Trump to prevent him from abusing his power, they are aiding and abetting him in his efforts. This is something that impacts on all levels of government and on all Americans. In the event that you do not already know it, during a speech regarding law enforcement, Mr. Trump – with a group of police officers lined up behind him – even encouraged police officers to rough up people that they arrest. This is totally unacceptable.
Chief Pazen’s predecessor, Chief Robert White, worked hard with business leaders and community members to create and implement the Use of Force policy before he retired. It did not happen. Chief Pazen will now be responsible to shepherd this policy the rest of the way through to implementation. Even with the successful implementation of a new Use of Force policy, we all should know that the real power of this policy will not come from the words on the paper that it is written on but from the honesty, integrity and statesmanship of the politicians we elect who will be entrusted to enforce it.
The bottom line is that if Mr. Trump is not held to account for what he is doing then the implementation of fair and just ‘use of force’ policies, no matter the city, will be moot. This, of course, includes our beautiful Mile High City of Denver. You can do your part to make sure that the politicians that we elect in Denver and Colorado will meet the honesty, integrity and statesmanship qualities that we demand and that Mr. Trump will be held to account for his incompetent and chaotic leadership by becoming and staying informed on politics at all levels.
No one is, nor should they be, above the law; not even the leader of the free world. You can assure that this is the way that it will be by becoming and staying informed and always voting. So always remember, whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!
Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line