By Noelle Phillips
The Denver Post POSTED:   06/08/2015

Hours before community groups were poised to protest their exclusion in the latest effort at reforming the Denver Sheriff Department, plans were in the works to include them.

Daelene Mix, a spokeswoman for the Denver Department of Public Safety, said Monday that community members would be a part of the process.

The implementation team named last month by Mayor Michael Hancock has created seven “action subgroups” and the leaders of those subgroups will begin inviting community stakeholders to participate, Mix said.

Stephanie O’Malley, executive director of the Department of Public Safety, planned to include community members from the get-go, Mix said.

“We have to keep the public engaged in this process,” she said. “This is something she always intended from the outset. I’m not sure people understood the implementation teams would have subgroups.”

Still, seven community groups held a rally Monday to protest the city’s plan. The protesters said they want three representatives appointed to the main implementation team. The appointees should represent the city’s African-American, Latino and Native American communities.

“How dare this administration look us in the face and disrespect us by not allowing anyone from our organization to be on the team?” READ MORE