About Us

The OIM is a civilian oversight agency that was created by the City of Denver and began its work on August 1, 2005. The OIM is staffed by thirteen employees, including six monitors, primarily attorneys: the Monitor, a Senior Deputy Monitor, and four Deputy Monitors.  In order to perform our research and policy functions, the OIM is also staffed by a Policy Director and two Senior Policy Analysts.  Committed to community engagement and public access to OIM work, there is also a Community Relations Director, Youth Outreach Manager, and Youth Outreach Coordinator.  The OIM’s work is supported by an Operations Coordinator.

Mission & Responsibilities

The mission of the Office of the Independent Monitor is to provide fair and objective oversight of the Denver Police and Sheriff Departments.  The Monitor’s mission is directed at transparency and accountability of Denver’s sworn Safety personnel and the policies which govern them.

Complaints should be filed in a timely manner in order to ensure efficient handling and quality investigations.  Commendations for good police work are always welcome. 

Core Functions

• Monitoring and reviewing Police, Sheriff and Fire Department critical incident investigations, specifically officer-involved shootings, in-custody deaths and uses of force resulting in great bodily injury or death;
• Monitoring the Denver Police Department (DPD) and the Denver Sheriff Department (DSD) internal affairs assignment decision-making processes to ensure fairness and consistency in the handling of citizen and internally-initiated complaints and investigations;
• Monitoring and making recommendations regarding formal DPD and DSD internal investigations to ensure the investigations are thorough, fair and complete;
• Monitoring and making recommendations on DPD and DSD findings after investigations and the imposition of discipline after sustained findings are made. (This task includes the monitoring of Disciplinary Review Board deliberations and recommendations);
• Ensuring the citizen complaint process is accessible to the entire community and making community members aware of how their complaints were handled and why; and,
• Improving the timeliness of the entire complaint handling and disciplinary processes for DPD and DSD.