Denver police union calls for chief's resignation after memorial desecrated during protest

Letter To Chief White From Officer Danny Veith

February 15, 2015 3:39 PM

Chief White,

I find myself at a loss of words, an inability to express how dismayed I am that you have failed to publicly denounce the inexcusable actions by protesters this afternoon. I checked every Denver area news source tonight and could not find any comments or remarks, from you, expressing disgust and anger over the desecration of our memorial to fallen officers.

Further, I have not seen any internal communication, to the honorable members of the Denver Police Department, the brave men and women you were hired to lead, explaining how a despicable act of degradation could even be allowed to occur!

Anger and frustration, by our officers, have dominated social media this evening. The absence of your leadership today is alarming, but – unfortunately – not surprising.

Not to lecture you, Sir, but no other law enforcement agency in our part of the United States, meaning Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma, have lost more officers in the line-of-duty than the Denver Police Department.

This tragic statistic, this humbling fact reinforces the enduring commitment of Denver Police Officers to put their very lives before all else in carrying out their duties. No other city or state agency has spilled more blood, serving the community, than our officers.

That our officers, working the demonstration today, had to watch the outrageous vandalism to our sacred memorial, without being able to intervene, is inexcusable and unacceptable.

Equally alarming is the escalation of anti-police rhetoric in our city, incendiary language and actions that have yet to be countered by city leaders, the Mayor, or yourself. Spray painting ******* the police” and threatening specific officers, by attaching their names with warnings of retribution, on our venerable memorial, as occurred today, only emboldens acts of future violence.

One has to look no farther than the executions of NYPD Officers Liu and Ramos, and the increase in lethal ambushes on police officers nationwide.

Before the next protest occurs, we need to hear from you. We need to know that you will enact and enforce a policy preventing these anti-social activists from damaging our police memorial and facilities in the future. We need to hear from you that your support our active and retired officers, and the memories of our fallen.

I can’t speak for every DPD officer, but of the four or five hundred I routinely interact with, I can state – as a fact – that we are all desperately craving leadership in our Police Department. You have been absent in this role for three years.

Respectfully,

Officer Danny Veith, 94040

No departmental email from court liason office advising when court is cancelled? Inexcusable!!! We should not have to depend on local news. Court is an official police business, therefore official notification should have been made. I'm not buying the "sign up for text notifications" bull. Departmental email makes the notification official if it comes from the court liason.

Conrad came to roll calls a few weeks ago and said the same thing. That we will stand down even if laws are being broken.

Stand With Denver P.D.

Just glad this piece of garbage is out of Louisville.

https://cbsdenver.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/open-letter-from-denver-police-union.docx

To the Citizens of Colorado,

On February 14 the Denver Police Department's Memorial to the officers who have gave the ultimate sacrifice citizens of Denver and Colorado was vandalized during an anti-law enforcement protest. This despicable act shocked the conscience of the citizens and law enforcement community across Colorado.

Sadly, this crime was allowed to be committed in the presence of Denver police officers who were under orders from Chief Robert White to take no action. Not only did Chief White prevent officers from protecting the memorial as it was being damaged, he also failed to take reasonable preventative steps such as posting officers around it to preserve the sanctity of this place of remembrance for the families and friends of these Colorado heroes. Chief White should have anticipated this vandalism to this Colorado monument as the State Capital was vandalized in a previous protest. Common sense dictates that targets such as the State Capital and Denver Police Memorial Wall be protected during an anti-police demonstration.

The demonstrated lack of leadership by Chief White, a veteran officer who has been chief in other major departments, is inexcusable.

In addition to failing to address the vandalism of the memorial, additional examples of Chief White’s poor leadership include his premature and conclusive statements made immediately after the shooting death of Ofc. Celena Hollis, whose name also appears on the memorial wall, and his comments made right after Ofc. John Adsit was run over and grievously injured (along with three other Denver officers). His statements that the suspect “didn’t intend to shoot Ofc. Hollis” and “a medical emergency caused the accident” were, inexplicably, made as the investigations were just getting underway. These comments demonstrated extremely poor judgment and could have had a chilling effect on the prosecution of these critical cases.

These premature statements minimizing the role of the people involved in the both the murder and serious injury of Denver officers, combined with allowing the criminal desecration of the memorial, casts doubt on Chief White’s ability to effectively lead the 1,400 officers of the Denver Police Department.

Although Chief White’s direction to the officers of the Denver Police Department is to prevent crime before it occurs, his inaction speaks more loudly than his words. To prevent crime before it occurs you must have a clear vision and the ability to credibly direct the men and women of the department to act on this vision. In this respect Chief White has failed.

The officers of the Denver Police Department recognize that the vast majority of citizens support law enforcement and recognize the key role police officers play in preserving the quality of life we enjoy in our great city and state. In that spirit we would like to invite Governor Hickenlooper, Mayor Hancock, members of the Denver City Council, citizens of Denver and all of Colorado, and law enforcement officers throughout the state to come celebrate the lives of the heroes whose names are engraved on the same memorial that Chief Robert White allowed to be desecrated. The Lest We Forget vigil will be held at the Denver Police Memorial, 1331 Cherokee St on Saturday February 21st at noon.

Respectfully,

The men and women of the Denver Police Department

Town hall level 9 !!!!

MURDERville.

The leadership on your department is horrible. Mr Mayor, WAKE UP!!!!!

Fire that incompetent, lying, coward of a chief you have hired. He is a total disappointment

Get back to policing and you wont have the murders you are having..

Officers are scared to be proactive b/c you will NOT SUPPORT THEM

CITY GOVERNMENT..get off your a$$ and get rid of the regime

Nope, won't let it go. Need to talk about it more! JCPD couldn't hold a candle to LPD. If you worked for JCPD you want nothing more than for people to stop talking about it.