Denver seeks changes to end wrongful arrests (Finally?)

23 Jan, 2012Legal Observations

It’s something of a given that if the government wants to make a case and win a conviction for an alleged crime it better be charging the right person. That’s been something of a problem in Denver. And it’s not a new issue. It’s something officials have known about for years. But now they seem to be trying to do something about it. Perhaps a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of several wrongfully arrested individuals is why.

The suit by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado claims that Denver officials have had a long-standing issue of throwing people in jail without first making sure they have the right person. According to records filed in the case, at least 500 people had been falsely incarcerated between 2002 and 2009. There are instances recorded of wrongly arrested people faced with criminal charges pleading guilty to crimes they didn’t do.

The kinds of errors made are pretty egregious. According to records, many who were booked had the same names as criminals, but had different birth dates. Sometimes the suspect sought and the person arrested weren’t even of the same gender or race. Yet other times, the person arrested had been the victim of identity theft. People sometimes can be held for weeks before mistakes are fixed.

Officials say they know why the problem exists. The city’s chief performance officer says it’s because police arrest first and identify later. And they say it may be a function of how arrests are processed. Individuals get booked by the Denver Sheriff’s Department, and identification confirmation gets handed off to the Denver Police Department – a different department in a different building.

Denver’s mayor observes that this split in duties results in unnecessary costs and errors. He also admits it disrupts the lives of innocent people.

A few ideas appear to be under consideration, but no recommendation for a solution is expected until later this month. It’s not clear why. The chief performance officer does suggest, though, that the idea of identifying a person first and then booking them represents a paradigm shift in thinking.

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