Denver Fires Bad Cops

The City of Denver has taken the encouraging move of firing two more bad cops who lied to investigators about using excessive force, despite videotape to the contrary.

Manager of Safety Charles Garcia has terminated two officers, Kevin Devine and Ricky Nixon, for lying about details in an excessive force case.

The two were accused of excessive force during an incident caught on camera outside the Denver Diner in 2009. The videotape shows an officer with a club pushing several women to the ground. A second officer is seen spraying mace into the face of a woman who is kneeling after being brought to the pavement by the first cop.

The two officers are the third and fourth terminated by Garcia, who took office last month. He fired Officers Devin Sparks and Randy Murr for "deceptive acts" in the case of Michael DeHerrera, who Sparks threw to the ground as he talked on a cell phone in LoDo.

The long overdue trend in still very welcome.

Interim Mayor Bill Vidal has also recommended the removal of a step in the process of disciplining police officers that has become redundant, delays the process and has favored unreasonably mild discipline for bad cops. Most Mayoral candidates in the current Denver Mayor's race favor the change.