Denver’s new law enforcement watchdog to focus on community relationships
Lisabeth Pérez Castle decided to become a lawyer in the ninth grade after reading “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Castle grew up in the projects in the South Bronx of New York City as the youngest child of Cuban immigrants. Her teachers and older siblings were vocal about civil rights.
“I was raised in a poor community of people standing up for their rights,” she said. “So when I read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ I just knew that’s how I wanted to make a difference.”
After graduating from the University of Denver’s Sturm School of Law, Castle spent the next three decades representing people charged with crimes as a public defender and then in private practice. When Denver needed a new top law enforcement watchdog, she saw an opportunity to combine her passion for civil and human rights with community work.
“It’s my dream job,” she said.
Castle became Denver’s independent monitor in January, filling a position that had been vacant for two years as the city’s citizen oversight board searched for the right candidate. The Office of the Independent Monitor is a civilian agency outside of the Department of Public Safety that oversees police and sheriff disciplinary matters, makes law enforcement policy recommendations and conducts large-scale investigations — like its inquiry into how Denver police handled the 2020 racial justice protests.
“I really see the Office of the Independent Monitor as a part of the city that bridges the gap between the community and law enforcement,” she said.
Castle took the position ahead of the 2023 mayoral election, which could shake up Denver’s public safety leadership. The next mayor could appoint a new director of public safety, police chief and sheriff. Castle’s job is safe, however. Denver voters in 2021 gave the Citizen Oversight Board the power to hire and fire the monitor instead of the mayor.
“Castle brings with her a wealth of experience practicing law and managing a law firm, deep ties in our community and an outstanding reputation for building trust and respect,” the Citizen Oversight Board said in a statement.
Castle is still learning the ropes at her new job — she joked that she now knows where the microwave is — but already knows she will focus on better involving Denverites in the office’s oversight and reform roles. The massive protests in Denver after George Floyd’s murder in 2020 proved that there’s an appetite in the community to improve law enforcement, she said. Castle doesn’t see her office as an advocacy organization but as a bridge between Denverites and the people they pay to keep them safe.
Castle believes that relationships between Denver’s law enforcement and community members are better now than they have been in recent years. She attributed that to constructive work being done by both the community and law enforcement to effect change.
“Based on what I have reviewed and what I have seen, the sheriff’s department, the Department of Safety and the police department are listening to the community’s concerns and are making efforts to come up with alternatives to policing — which is what I really believe is what the community wants,” she said.
Her decades in criminal defense taught her to have a sharp eye to scrutinize information from law enforcement, she said. Her background growing up in a community of color and an immigrant family gives her a different lens through which she sees policing and community relations, she said.
“Coming from a community of color and being the child of immigrants I have a very different experience than my own children do about relationships with law enforcement and relationships with community,” she said. “It makes me recognize that there are differences depending on your background, but that you can also strive to make change.”
One of Castle’s first tasks is making sure Denverites know her office exists and that they can reach out with questions or concerns, she said.
“It’s important for the community to see the face of the Office of the Independent Monitor and for me to be engaged with the community to answer any questions they have,” she said.
Castle spent her first weeks on the job working with the outreach unit of her office and meeting with the police chief, sheriff, director of public safety and community advocates.
Now she’s working through a 2-inch-thick manual of regulations as she learns how her office conducts discipline oversight.
It’s too soon for her to tell if there are flaws in the city’s law enforcement discipline and oversight process, she said.
“But there’s always room for improvement,” she said.