By Peggy Lowe, News Staff Writer
July 4, 2002
A political activist on Wednesday blasted a mayoral
panel looking into the Denver Police Department's "spy
files," saying it reached "absurd" conclusions.
Glenn Morris, an American Indian Movement leader and
political science professor, said the panel ignored
the department's labeling of peaceful protesters as
"criminal extremists."
He also said the panel of three former judges,
appointed by Mayor Wellington Webb, never acted
independently from the city and that its findings were
"unfounded and bordering on ludicrous."
"SPY FILES"
Copies of the report will be available from 8:30-10:30
a.m. Monday in the second floor rotunda of the Denver
City and County Building. A limited number of reports
are available because of its length, so copies will be
distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. The
report also will be available on a read-only basis at
the City Clerk's Office, also located on the second
floor.
The panel's final report was issued Wednesday.
The inch-thick summary found most of the problems with
the spy files' computer database could be blamed on a
lack of training for the police who entered the data.
But the report also concluded that no officers should
be disciplined.
Morris, who is the subject of one of the files, said
the police should be punished, however, because their
characterization of groups such as the Quakers as
"criminal extremists" was malicious and defamatory.
"There was a Red Squad in Denver," Morris said,
referring to the 1960s-era use of police officers to
spy on political activists.
Webb wouldn't comment on the report, issuing a
statement saying only that he, City Attorney Wally
Wortham and Police Chief Gerry Whitman met with the
panel.
Whitman said he would wait to comment until after
Webb's decision on whether to accept or reject the
panel's recommendations.
"It's his commission, so I certainly want to hear what
his interpretation is," Whitman said.
The panel members -- Jean E. Dubofsky, a former
Colorado Supreme Court justice, and former Denver
District Court judges Roger Cisneros and William G.
Meyer -- said the spy files on 208 groups and 3,277
individuals should be purged from the computer
database and destroyed.
They also said that those who are the subject of a
file should get to see the intelligence, but only if
they call the police department within a 60-day
period.
Contact Peggy Lowe at (303) 892-5482 or
lowep@RockyMountainNews.com.