Denver Sheriff Dept. ranks shuffled
A reorganization in the top ranks of the Denver Sheriff Department has stripped the sheriff of his budget staff and elevated a former sheriff who had fallen from grace after a colleague secretly recorded him criticizing his bosses.
Under the new organization, effective Jan. 1, Sheriff Patrick Firman’s budget staff will report to a deputy director in the city’s safety department. Firman’s chief of staff, an appointee from the mayor’s office, will gain more oversight, including beefing up the department’s public relations efforts.
Firman said the changes are part of the department’s ongoing efforts to improve the culture and are no more unusual than any business making leadership decisions. The department is preparing itself to move from reform mode to one of “continuous improvement,” he said.
But department critics see the changes as a sign that the sheriff’s department continues to struggle
even after undergoing a massive reform effort over the past three years. Among the problems is an inability to get control of overtime spending in recent years — an issue that has cost the department millions.
“People are going to read into it what they want,” Firman said. “This is part of the process of evolving, changing the culture and getting better.”
The sheriff’s department has completed about 70 percent of the 418 recommendations made in 2015 by Hillard Heintze, a Chicagobased consulting company hired to evaluate the department, Firman said. He expects the department to have completed 90 percent by the end of December.
The department still faces challenges.
Violence among inmates continues to be a problem. And the department has struggled to overcome a staffing shortage despite a bigger budget to hire more deputies. In 2016, the department spent $14 million on overtime, and the department is on track to spend a similar amount in 2017.
Firman said the decision to move his budget staff to the safety department, which oversees his office, has nothing to do with the rampant overtime spending. It made sense to centralize those operations, he said.
However, the police and fire departments, which also are under the safety department, continue to have their own budget staffs. Holly Shrewsbury, a sheriff’s spokeswoman, said the concept will be tested by the sheriff’s department.
“I’m still managing the budget,” Firman said. “It’s still my budget. It’s a matter of centralizing resources.”
Firman, hired in October 2015, appointed new leaders three months after he was hired by Mayor Michael Hancock. Rather than have chiefs supervise the city’s two jails, which had been the tradition, he placed one chief over operations and another over administration. Majors were put in charge of the jails.
Elias Diggins, the interim sheriff for 15 months before Firman was hired, had been shifted to a role overseeing special projects, which included construction of a new women’s unit at the County Jail complex on Smith Road.
Now, Diggins will be chief of operations with majors Jodi Blair and Rick Guerrero reporting to him; Blair will run the Downtown Detention Center, while Guerrero runs the County Jail. Diggins also will be in charge of intake, records and scheduling.
It’s a return to the top levels of jail administration for Diggins, who was relieved of any duties involving inmate management or daily operations after Firman took office. The promotion will include a pay increase, Shrewsbury said.
Just weeks before Firman was hired, Diggins was embarrassed during a public disciplinary hearing for former Chief Frank Gale. Gale had secretly recorded Diggins talking about their bosses, who had fired Gale.
After the recording became public, Diggins issued an apology to Hancock and Stephanie O’Malley, the safety department’s executive director.
Diggins also was accused earlier this year in a lawsuit of trying to cover up evidence that a mentally ill inmate had been paraded naked through Denver Health Medical Center. That lawsuit is pending.
Firman declined to characterize Diggins’ promotion as a sign that he had regained the trust of his bosses.
“I don’t think it’s an issue of trust,” Firman said. “We’re looking at people’s talents, and Elias has a lot of talent and he has a lot to offer this department.”
The Fraternal Order of Police Denver Sheriff’s Lodge No. 27 was pleased with Diggins’ promotion, as were community members who had criticized the department for not having enough diversity within its leadership.
The rank-and-file deputies have lacked faith in the department’s leadership, and they hope Diggins is allowed to make decisions, said union president Mike Jackson.
“The city administration, the safety director and the independent monitor are making all of the decisions,” Jackson said. “No uniformed sheriff is making decisions.
“I have a feeling he will have more say in what’s going on.”
Jackson specifically pointed out the 2016 appointment of Andrea Albo by Hancock as the sheriff’s chief of staff as an example of City Hall running the department.
“These people have no experience or know how a law enforcement agency runs,” Jackson said. “I always assumed she was brought over to keep an eye on the sheriff. It’s almost another layer of bureaucracy.”
Terrence Hughes, president of the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance, said the changes improve the diversity within the department’s leadership ranks, but they also are a sign that the city is still trying to improve the department’s image.
“When you look at the charts, it looks like they’ve covered all the diversity check marks,” Hughes said. “We’re watching them to see if they’re going to change. It’s more of a cultural problem than an organizational problem. Don’t just do it on paper. We want to see those changes in how you do business.”