Since 1990, the Police Department has punished 82 officers who violated laws ranging from reckless driving and DUI to child abuse and theft.
Of those, 17 were fired or decided to resign or retire over the crime, according to a department database of officer discipline analyzed by The Denver Post. Sixteen others left the force years later: Five were fired for a different reason, and 11 retired.
That means 49 of the 82 law-breaking officers still wear a Denver police badge.
They include a sergeant convicted of assaulting a suspect with a flashlight, then lying about it, and two veteran officers convicted last year of destroying evidence from about 80 drug arrests - the department estimates "hundreds of cases" may have been affected - because they didn't want to do the paperwork.
Also on the list: A sergeant at Denver International Airport who put a knife under a fellow officer's testicles as he stood at a urinal.
Chief Gerry Whitman said he wouldn't comment about The Post's overall findings because most of the disciplinary actions occurred before he took command in February 2000.
"I take officer discipline very seriously, but what's preceded me isn't something I can discuss because I wasn't chief," Whitman said.
City Councilwoman Elbra Wedgeworth was surprised to learn so many officers had broken the law.
"Even if they're breaking only traffic laws, this is very concerning," said Wedgeworth, chairwoman of the council's public safety and personnel committee. "No one's ever told us this."
Part of Wedgeworth's concern is a public perception that the department doesn't police itself strongly enough. She wants stronger discipline with public oversight, something that's not happening now.
"This all speaks to people assuming there's an incestuous relationship in the department for police to protect their own," Wedgeworth said.
Police discipline files at the city's Civil Service Commission teem with narratives of aberrant behavior. The cases, according to commission and court records, include:
A 10-year veteran nailed for driving 95 mph on Interstate 70 - after a long history of speeding in his private car and being let go with a warning each time. He pleaded guilty to reckless driving. The department took three vacation days from him.
Another veteran officer whose ex-husband - also a Denver officer - turned her in for striking her child with a belt. She pleaded guilty to injuring a minor and lost two vacation days. Her supervisor had recommended only a reprimand.
An officer who pleaded guilty to second-degree forgery for writing seven fraudulent parking tickets against an acquaintence with whom he was having a disagreement. The court gave him a six-month suspended jail sentence and fined him $5,000. Despite a division chief's recommendation to fire him, the officer received a 60-day suspension for breaking the law and a 210-day suspension for improper conduct.
A sergeant who received a written reprimand after telling her bosses the police van she had been assigned was damaged by a hit-and-run driver. The 22-year veteran actually had smacked the van into a parked car while pulling into a parking space. Then she walked across the street to teach a traffic safety class at an alcohol rehab center, returned and drove off. She pleaded guilty to careless driving.
The sergeant who put a knife under the testicles of another officer at DIA. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor menacing and received a year of probation and a 90-day suspended jail sentence. The department suspended him for three days.
Zavaras defends actions
"Oh, my," Wedgeworth said when she read some examples of police misconduct. "There's got to be a public process for people to see this information, something that holds the police publicly accountable."
But Denver Manager of Safety Ari Zavaras said the Police Department sometimes comes down harder on a lawbreaking officer than the courtroom judge.
"If an officer is suspended for a year, that's really a $30,000 fine whereas in court he might have received probation," Zavaras said, refusing to reference specific cases of officer discipline.
Councilman Ed Thomas, a former police officer of 22 years, said he's not surprised some "bad-apple officers" still wear a badge.
"Should a police officer keep his job for a traffic violation? Probably," Thomas said. "For child abuse? Absolutely not. But it's unfortunate that some of them do. That's how the system works. That's how it's always worked."
The Denver district attorney has charged 23 Denver officers with crimes since 1997. Four were acquitted or had the charges dismissed, according to the DA's office.
Three were convicted of felonies, which automatically led to their dismissal from the police force. The other 16 pleaded guilty to misdemeanors - some after being charged initially with felonies - and received sentences ranging from deferred judgments if they stayed out of trouble to a 30-day home detention.
All those convicted of misdemeanors kept their badges. Three eventually left the force on their own, records show.
Denver CopWatch member Stephen Nash, whose group monitors police behavior, said this outcome shows "that officers in Denver operate with impunity, and the department's policies encourage them to act outside of the law."
"I can't think of a private business in the city that would treat their employees as well as the police treat theirs," he said.
Records show department discipline generally has been harder on lawbreaking officers since 1997 than in the previous seven years, although the majority still remain on the force.
Nearly half of 31 officers disciplined since 1997 for violating the law were suspended, department computer records show. From 1990 to 1996, 51 officers were disciplined for violating the law and just five were suspended.
Since Whitman took command in early 2000, 10 officers have been disciplined for breaking the law: seven were suspended, two were dismissed, and one retired.
Five other officers are shown in department records as breaking the law during Whitman's tenure, but receiving only a reprimand.
Whitman challenged the accuracy of those records, even though they were provided to The Post by his department's internal affairs bureau.
"That's impossible," the chief said of the reprimands, which are not counted among the 82 officers disciplined for breaking the law since 1990.
After checking, Whitman said the five reprimands are the only discipline records from his tenure that are inaccurate on the department's database. Suspensions and dismissals given to lawbreaking officers are correct, he said.
"As you can see, accurate and timely information continues to be an issue," said Whitman, who wants the department to buy a new computer system designed to track officers with discipline problems.
Such a system would let department officials keep a closer eye on lawbreakers responsible for enforcing the law.
But the department can't be held solely responsible for whether law-breaking officers keep their jobs, Councilman Thomas said.
Some behavior "would be fire-able offenses" if it occurred in the private sector, Thomas said of law-breaking officers who were suspended for law violations.
"The private-sector worker doesn't have this protective umbrella called the Civil Service Commission like the police do," he said.
Assistant City Attorney Robert Wolf acknowledged: "There are certain additional protections that come with being a government employee. Generally that comes with certain hearings and processes, such as the Civil Service Commission."
Officers who are disciplined can appeal to the commission, a five-member board appointed by the City Council and mayor. A hearing officer named by the board decides the police officer's appeal. If the city or police officer is unhappy with the outcome, either can appeal the decision directly to the board, or later to a district court.
The commission has been thrashed by Mayor Wellington Webb, as well as Zavaras and his predecessors, for overturning harsh disciplines, including firings. The department operates under a "comparative discipline" rule, where an officer's punishment can't be worse than the penalty given a different officer for a similar offense in the past three years. That factor has allowed officers to stay on the job even when the department wants them fired.
"If I say an employee doesn't deserve to be here, I'd expect some support on that," Whitman said. "But that doesn't always happen."
Indeed, Whitman and Zavaras said their decisions sometimes are made with the commission in mind.
"I want discipline that is reasonable and fair, but I've had disciplines overturned by the commission, and it's been problematical for the department," Zavaras said. "Many times the facts aren't in dispute, just the discipline."
But since 1990, the commission has overturned or modified only 33 of 113 police discipline cases, including six dismissals, records show. The majority of the department's disciplinary actions appealed to the commission are upheld, withdrawn by the officer, or settled between the department and the officer.
Case cited as example
Still, there is one case city officials cite as proof comparable discipline has hampered them.
Officer Matthew Graves was fired in 1997 after he "used his gun to menace a shackled prisoner," records show.
Graves, a nine-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department before coming to Denver in 1994, was caught on videotape Christmas Day 1996 pointing his gun at an unruly woman prisoner who had one hand cuffed to the metal bench in her cell.
Graves said he was fearful the woman had a weapon when she refused to take her free hand from a coat pocket, records show.
Graves pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and was fired.
The commission reversed the firing because of the comparable-discipline rule, made it a one-year suspension and reinstated Graves in March 1999. The city went to court and eventually lost its appeal.
Graves, who had already been disciplined for lying in his first year on the Denver force, was back on the job, records show. And he received more than a year's worth of back pay.
Today, Graves works at the juvenile booking desk.
David Migoya can be reached at dmigoya@denverpost.com or at 303-820-1506.