Monday, December 23, 2002 - In a surprise statement that contradicts past assertions by city officials, mayoral candidate Ari Zavaras said Sunday that there had been a policy in place preventing the abuse of intelligence gathering while he was chief of police.

Still, Zavaras, a former chief and manager of safety, blasted those who criticize the department's compilation of more than 3,500 spy files on individuals and organizations whose only "crime" was the practice of free speech.

"I will no longer sit by silently while an assault is waged on our law enforcement community," Zavaras said in a written statement, adding that citizen rights must also be guarded.

"Anyone who attempts to compromise the Police Department while this matter is before the U.S. District Court ... does a disservice to efforts in behalf of the safety and well-being of the people of Denver," he said.

Zavaras was referring to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against the city concerning the spy files.

In describing the policy, Zavaras quoted from a 1983 Police Department manual that he said was in effect during his tenure as chief from 1987 to 1991.

The policy, as quoted by Zavaras, allows gathering of information only on people or groups that "advocate criminal conduct, (or) threatened, attempted or performed criminal acts."

The alleged lack of any policy governing the intelligence unit's gathering of information has been a focal point of the ACLU lawsuit, and Zavaras' disclosure greatly surprised Mark Silverstein, legal director of the ACLU in Denver.

"This is the first time I've heard of a policy," said Silverstein, who has taken several depositions of police officials. "My understanding is that nobody could remember a policy being in place."

Mayor Wellington Webb has repeatedly said he believed that there was a written policy for the intelligence unit, but that it was never followed.

In a deposition taken Sept. 18, Deputy Police Chief David Abrams said that instead of written guidelines or training, Denver intelligence officers operated under "historical hand-me-down kind of information."

After a rough draft of a 1998 policy was found in a supervisor's desk drawer a few months ago, "we realized that no commander had ever actually implemented or put in place those policies," Abrams said.

"I can tell you that is incorrect," Zavaras said in an interview Sunday night. "Depositions are not necessarily factual."

A spokeswoman with the Denver Police Department declined to comment.

In addition to an excerpt from the policy, which Zavaras said came from the intelligence bureau manual, he also released a copy of a June 18, 1984, internal police memo from the intelligence commander at the time, R.C. Cantwell, to Chief Tom Coogan.

The memo says that "recognizing that special care and precautions must be taken to avoid interfering with the constitutional rights of citizens, ... written guidelines were implemented in October 1983."

Silverstein said it is the first time he has heard of such a memo, which should have been released to the ACLU as part of the lawsuit.

"I'm hoping that Ari Zavaras will assist the city's attorneys," Silverstein said. "Apparently he's able to find things they are not able to. Where did this document come from? If it was in the city's files, why did they not make it available?"

Zavaras, in the interview, said he obtained the documents that spelled out the policy on Friday from his former deputy police chief.

The ACLU filed suit on behalf of six plaintiffs March 28, challenging the Police Department's custom of spying on peaceful protesters, maintaining the files and sharing the files with other law enforcement agencies.

One of the plaintiffs in the case, Mark Cohen, said that in a system built on checks and balances, it is the right and responsibility of citizens to make sure the Police Department is doing its job properly.

"Instead of lashing out at those who question abuses, he should be telling us what he's going to do to prevent this from happening in the future," Cohen said.

Zavaras has previously said that while he was aware the intelligence unit gathered information, he was not aware it abused its power.

"If he wasn't aware of any abuses, he wasn't doing his job," Cohen said.

And while the excerpt from the intelligence manual says that the unit reported directly to the chief of police, Zavaras told The Post in an interview earlier this month that while he was chief, the intelligence commander reported to the deputy chief.

"I did not have my intelligence bureau reporting directly to me," Zavaras said Sunday night.

Denver Post staff writer Amy Herdy can be reached at 303-820-1752 or aherdy@denverpost.com .