MAYOR: PROBE SHOULD BE DONE

Investigation into Denver police’s White, Murray is in its 11th month

An 11-month investigation into the actions of Denver’s police chief and the deputy police chief has taken too long, Mayor Michael Hancock says.

An 11-month investigation into the actions of Denver’s police chief and the deputy police chief has taken too long, Mayor Michael Hancock said last week.

“It has been a long process,” Hancock said. “We’ll take a look at it when it’s done. We’ll step back.”

The investigation, which was announced in March, is supposed to review how Chief Robert White and Deputy Chief Matt Murray responded to a letter from the former district attorney that criticized Murray’s handling of a sexual assault investigation. The chiefs’ critics said an internal investigation should have been launched immediately, but White replied to then-District Attorney Mitch Morrissey’s concerns with a short letter and took no action.

The second issue connected to the investigation centers around White and Murray’s response to an open-records request for the letter. Multiple people have accused the chiefs of being deceptive in denying they had the letter.

The investigation was thrust back into the spotlight Monday when Troy Riggs was named the new executive director of the Department of Public Safety. He replaces Stephanie O’Malley, who hired Flynn Investigations, a Denver law firm, to look into the chiefs’ actions.

Flynn finished its report Dec. 1. The report now is in the hands of the Denver Sheriff Department’s conduct review office, and no timeline has been announced for the next step in the investigation.

Riggs, who began his career at the Louisville Metro Police Department, has connections to White. Riggs served as a deputy chief and chief of staff when White was Louisville’s police chief. In previous media interviews, Riggs has called White his mentor.

Riggs, who said he has not read the Flynn report, insisted he had the integrity to be fair when questions were raised about his ability to deliver an impartial decision.

“When the report comes out and I look at it, I will give my recommendation regarding the chiefs — and the chief is a mayoral appointee to the mayor — and we’ll have that conversation with not only me but many of the other people who have been involved as well,” Riggs said.

Hancock said Riggs will not make the decision regarding discipline for White. Instead, that will be his job, the mayor said.

“When it’s concluded, that investigation will come to me,” Hancock said.

Previously, O’Malley’s office has said the conduct review office would look for violations by Murray, and O’Malley would

decide whether to punish him. As for White, the conduct review office would look at White’s conduct and organize the report for the mayor’s review. The mayor would decide White’s fate with input from the safety director, according to previous explanations about the process.

While Hancock said the investigation had taken too long, he did not blame O’Malley.

“Would we have preferred for things to be handled better? Absolutely,” Hancock said. “And I think the chief of police would tell you that. I think the entire department would tell you that.”

Investigations into police and sheriff misconduct historically have taken a long time in Denver. Those cases need to move more quickly to earn the public’s confidence, Hancock said.

“I thought we’d gotten better at it,” he said.