Denver council members propose funding for jail case managers, Crime Lab positions

Denver City Council members have proposed 2027 budget changes to fund Sheriff Department jail case managers and vacant Denver Police Crime Laboratory positions.

One amendment would transfer $258,975 from the Public Safety General Fund personnel-services budget to the Sheriff Department’s Jail Operations budget. Its sponsors, Council President Pro Tem Amanda Gonzales-Gutierrez and Council Member Sarah Parady Lewis, proposed the transfer to fund case-manager positions; the amendment does not specify how many. The Sheriff Department describes case managers as helping people in custody identify resources such as classes, treatment and housing, and plan for release.

A separate amendment would shift money within the Police Department budget to fund vacant Crime Laboratory positions. A Nov. 2 document lists a proposed $492,680 shift, reducing Services and Supplies and increasing Police Investigations personnel services by the same amount. The document names the same Council matter, amendment title and sponsors—Gonzales-Gutierrez, Lewis and Council Member Diana Romero Campbell Alvidrez—as the version previously cited, which lists $689,923 for the same budget lines and purpose. Neither document says whether one supersedes the other, so the amount that would govern is unclear.

At a July Council briefing, police officials said most Crime Lab testing positions were filled and vacancies generally were not affecting evidence-processing turnaround at that time, though some crime-scene evidence collection could be delayed, they told Council. At a September budget hearing, the police chief described the lab as about 80% staffed and said most vacancies were in crime-scene response rather than evidence analysis, the chief told Council. Those statements describe staffing at the time, not the effects of the proposed transfer.

The Nov. 2 Council agenda scheduled the Crime Lab amendment for consideration. At 5:12 p.m. that day, the Legistar matter page still showed “Agenda Ready”; the records reviewed did not establish whether Council adopted, rejected or postponed it.