"Information was given that Glenn Morris and Ward Churchill were to be killed, and Russell Means would only be injured" by a rival political faction, read the Nov. 22, 1994, entry, marked as "confirmed" and received from the FBI.

Entries in the intelligence files of Churchill and Means show the same information, yet all three men say police never told them they were in danger.

Now, as depositions from a lawsuit filed against the city show a historic lack of training and accountability for intelligence detectives, Morris, a member of the leadership council of the American Indian Movement of Colorado and a political science professor at the University of Colorado at Denver, wants change in how the Police Department is managed. He worries that future city administrations will only perpetuate this past.

"We need an effective oversight of the Police Department," said Morris, whose criminal history includes two misdemeanor charges for blocking Columbus Day parades, neither of which stuck. "The Police Department does whatever it wants, whenever it wants, with impunity."

Records from Morris' spy file show that beginning in 1986, Denver police monitored him closely, including keeping tabs on his travels and on visitors who parked near his home.

Now Ari Zavaras, a former city safety manager and chief of police from 1987 to 1993, is running for mayor, and Morris wants answers.

"What did he know?" Morris said. "If no one knew, it speaks to a don't-ask, don't-tell policy."

Zavaras said he learned of the nature of the spy files from Police Chief Gerry Whitman "about the time it hit in the newspapers" in March.

"The chief came to me and said there had been a problem with some of the intelligence files," Zavaras said.

"I did not monitor on a day-to- day basis who they were gathering information on," he said of the intelligence unit during his tenure as chief. "I expected it always to be done fairly."

Depositions of Denver police officers, taken as part of the American Civil Liberties Union's free- speech lawsuit against the city, show it was not.

Instead of using day planners, officers relied on a collection of permits and fliers for public events to plan whom to watch that day, Detective David Pontarelli said in his Nov. 1 deposition.

Although there was no protocol for the sharing of information with other law enforcement agencies, he had done so many times, Pontarelli said, declining to "put a number on it."

His and other depositions were recently reviewed by The Denver Post. The ACLU's March 28 lawsuit against the city challenges the Police Department's custom of spying on peaceful protesters, maintaining the files and sharing the files with other law enforcement agencies. Such actions, the suit claims, chill the practice of free speech.

In one instance, information was collected on a Texas man - down to his American Express number - who apparently happened to park his rental car near an event.

"I would not expect information to be kept on people where's there no criminal tie," Zavaras said. "I never have and never will permit any abuses."

So who is responsible for oversight?

"It goes up the chain of command," he said.

As mayor, he said, he would ensure accountability.

"If it's established here that anyone crossed the line, I've never been shy on discipline," he said.

Whitman declined to comment. A spokesman for Mayor Wellington Webb, who took office in 1991, previously told The Post that Webb did not know about the spy files.

Testimony by a former intelligence detective contradicts that.

In his Oct. 25 deposition, Abel Alonzo, now a narcotics detective, said he was a member of the intelligence bureau from 1993 to 1999.

During that time, Alonzo said, he regularly monitored protests and other events and would input information about them, including the license plate numbers of those who attended, even if the event was peaceful.

When asked who was notified of such events, Alonzo replied, "Well, the mayor always got notification on all these. ... Somebody in the mayor's office should have gotten this, yes."

Asked whether he was concerned that police were creating files on expressive activities, Alonzo said: "See, now you want to get me transferred out of my other unit. No, I wasn't concerned about that."

In his deposition, Deputy Chief David Abrams said that in October 2000, Whitman asked that the protocol for the intelligence unit be brought in line with federal standards.

That was never done, Abrams said.

Still, the question remains as to how much Whitman knew about what his intelligence unit was doing.

An inner-office police memo contained in a spy file obtained by The Post shows that as a captain over District 6, Whitman was briefed by Pontarelli about "possible activity in your district."

The event, Pontarelli wrote in the April 11, 1995, memo, was the taping of a public television show on "American Activists."

Lt. Judy Will, brought into the intelligence unit in September to audit the spy files and give copies to those who are targets, said in an interview that Whitman is extremely concerned about the spy files.

"I can say 100 percent this police administration is taking this very seriously and has made the ultimate commitment to smoothing it out," Will said.

"If nothing happened, we'll say that. But if it's held up in court we've made some error, this administration is dedicated to correcting that."

On Wednesday, Webb spokesman Andrew Hudson released what he said was the new policy for the Denver Police Department's intelligence unit. He did not know when the policy was finalized, Hudson said.

It says in part, "No intelligence file is to be maintained on any individual or organization unless there is reasonable suspicion to believe ... criminal conduct, criminal conspiracies or ... the potential to significantly disrupt the public order."

Amy Herdy can be reached at 303-820-1752 or aherdy@denverpost.com. Carol Kreck can be reached at 303-820-1333 or ckreck@denverpost.com.