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Sheriff's advisory board selected

The Denver Post - 5/18/2017

The Denver Sheriff Department's new community advisory board includes a criminal justice professor, a former inmate, an anti-gang activist and the daughter of the downtown jail's namesake.

The sheriff's department announced the new board's members Friday.

The board was created as a response to community activists who said the department continued to need outside input as part of its ongoing reform effort. Sheriff Patrick Firman promised to assemble an advisory board in January at a public criminal justice reform meeting.

The board will provide ideas, concerns and feedback to the sheriff on issues such as leadership development and jail crowding.

Sheriff's deputies, employees from the city attorney's office and other city workers will be included as ex-officio members, according to a news release announcing the board's formation.

The first meeting will be in July, and board members must attend two orientation meetings, the department said.

The board also will set up its own bylaws.

The 10 members are:

* Michael Miller, communications and chapter director for Young People in Recovery. He is a former Denver jail inmate.

* La Toya Petty, development director for the Families Forward Resource Center. She is a community activist in the Montbello and Green Valley Ranch neighborhoods.

* Anastacia Rodriguez, testing director at the Community College of Denver. She also served on the board of a Denver nonprofit that provided outdoor experiences to young people.

* Frances Simonet, district court magistrate for the Colorado Judicial Branch. She is assigned to the dependency and neglect docket in the juvenile division. Her father, John Simonet, is a former sheriff's department director, and the downtown Van Cise-Simonet Detention Center is named for him.

* Dianne Tramutola-Lawson, founder and chairwoman of the Colorado chapter of Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants, which advocates for the humane treatment of inmates. She is a member of the Denver Community Corrections Board.

* Andrea Borrego, assistant criminal justice professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Her research interests include policing, neighborhoods and victimization of lesbian, gay and transgender people.

* Lawrence Left Hand Bull, access control coordinator at Children's Hospital Colorado. He served on a city public safety review commission, which recommended changes to Denver's police and sheriff's departments.

* Christopher Geggie, manager of Candidate Ready Development for Leadership Education Equity, Denver. He has worked for the American Civil Liberties Union and Why Marriage Matters.

* Leon Kelly, executive director of Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives, the oldest anti-gang program in the Denver area. He once served prison time on drug charges and was pardoned by Gov. Bill Ritter in 2010.

* Brad Meuli, president and CEO of Denver Rescue Mission. He served in the Marine Corps.