DENVER – After previously looking to an outsider to address misconduct and excessive force allegations in its jails, Denver is hoping a longtime member of the sheriff’s department can help transform the troubled agency.
Mayor Michael Hancock on Monday named Elias Diggins, who has served at every level of the department over his 25 year career, as the city’s new sheriff, who is principally in charge of running the city’s two jails.
Diggins, who is Black and grew up in Denver’s predominantly Black Montbello neighborhood, previously served as interim sheriff after the departure of Sheriff Gary Wilson and the hiring of Patrick Firman. The city has been without a permanent sheriff since Firman, a longtime corrections official from northern Illinois, resigned in September 2019. Firman’s departure followed the death of an inmate at the hands of deputies and a lawsuit filed over an inmate who gave birth in at the jail.
Hancock said the nation’s criminal justice system is at a “critical juncture” and that he thought now, more than ever, the sheriff needed to be someone with deep community experience, an inside knowledge of the department and a believer in the power of second chances.
Diggins has had some public troubles of his own at the department. When he was interim sheriff, it was reported that he had lied to a judge in 1996 about having car insurance after being in an accident and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.
Hancock did not address that directly but said he expected some to question his track record as a deputy and “challenges” and “regretful moments” he has had but he said that Diggins had grown and his experiences would help him.
“Quite frankly, in today’s world, as a sheriff who understands the travails and challenges of people in front of him that he is charged with protecting and serving and detaining, is going to make him in my heart and in my mind, I think, the perfect sheriff to lead this department,” Hancock said.
Diggins began his remarks by thanking God and quoting a verse from the Biblical book of Proverbs: “The godly fall down seven times and get up.”
“The past is the past and I have had challenges but I am ready to move forward to lead this department where we need to go,” he said.
Diggins said he wanted to make sure that all members of the department lead with their humanity and remember that all jail inmates are members of the community. He also said he thought it was important for members of law enforcement to see themselves as part of the community too.
“It is my hope as we move forward that we can bring the community to the table and re-earn the trust that has been broken,” Diggins said.
