Spy Files: City, police finally change tune on public records

The Denver city attorney announced that the police department will finally change its policy of issuing blanket denials from the public to see documents from police department internal affairs investigations.That means the public may finally get more insight into how the police department has been policing itself, and change a long history of the department trying to keep internal affairs investigations from being reviewed by outsiders.For years, when ordinary citizens or media outlets like 9News asked to see investigative files from police department internal affairs investigations, the department always gave the same blanket answer to those requesting the information: None of them had the right to see the internal affairs documents.In different ways, many of the people and media outlets who were denied the information told the city that its denials violated state open records laws.Still, the city wouldn't budge. That changed Monday. The city says it is changing its policy and will review all requests on a case by case basis, and determine what - if any - records should be released according to the city's interpretation of state law. City Attorney Cole Finegan says the change should mean more records requests being granted."In the past, the Denver Police Department has admitted it pretty much had a blanket denial on each of these requests," Finegan said. "What we're now saying is you can't do that any longer - you're going to look at each request, and we're going to do a separate analysis and look at the factors and determine whether we can turn over any records without violating any privacy interests."The significant change in the city's stance comes after the fourth consecutive court loss last month. Attorney John Culver and the ACLU took the city to court on behalf of Steve Nash and his wife. The couple - who are well known political activists who are often critical of the police department - found out in 2002 that Denver Police had been spying on them, even though they were suspected in no crimes.Using state open record laws, Steve and Vicki Nash asked to see the internal affairs investigations from the so-called spy files cases, but police said they weren't allowed. The couple took the city to court - and once again - the city lost. As another judge found in a 2004 case, Judge Catherine Lemon found the city's failure to abide by public records laws in the Nash case was "arbitrary and capricious". As a result, Judge Lemon ordered the city not only to turn over the documents, but also to pay Steve and Vicki Nash's attorneys fees. Today, John Culver praised the city's decision to change its policies."I think this is a fantastic thing because apparently the Denver Police Department has been taught their lesson by this Denver district court decision," Culver said.Finegan says the city will appeal the portion of Judge Lemon's ruling ordering the city to pay Steve and Vicki Nash's attorney's fees. Attorneys involved in the case say that amount could end up being as much as $40,000.Denver City Attorney Cole Finegan will be part of a panel discussion Wednesday night, January 25, at Tattered Cover Book Store in LoDo. The discussion is titled "Whose Records Are They Anyway?", and will discuss the conflicts that sometimes arise between the media, the public and the government over what records should be open to public inspection, and what records should not be open. The panel is being sponsored by the Colorado Freedom of Information Council and will also include a member of the media, a citizen who successfully sued the city of Denver under public records laws and a representative of the Colorado Municipal League. The Tattered Cover Book Store is located at 16th Street and Wynkoop.