Denver's new independent monitor Nicholas Mitchell will have more staff to monitor cop and deputy misconduct cases and a larger budget as he helps guide improvements to policies followed by the city police and sheriff's departments.

Mitchell, formerly a commercial litigator with Silver & DeBoskey in Denver, was appointed in August by Mayor Michael Hancock. He replaces Richard Rosenthal, who left in January to take a job as British Columbia's first independent police monitor.

Mitchell's staff of six will grow by two next year when he hires a third deputy monitor and a second research analyst.

Also, a staff ombudsman who has been working part time will begin working full time. Among other duties, Mitchell said, the ombudsman "builds relationships with different communities throughout Denver."

To cover the increased staffing, the monitor's budget will climb to $853,600 in 2013, up from $626,700 this year.

The budget also includes about $15,000 that the Citizen Oversight Board can use to evaluate Mitchell's performance.

The board, made up of seven members, oversees the monitor's office.

Former City Councilwoman Cathy Reynolds, a member of the board, said the staffing increase was sorely needed. "We actually are going to be fully staffed for the first time in years."

Among other things, Mitchell and his two deputy monitors sit in on interviews performed by Denver's Internal Affairs Bureau, and Mitchell recommends discipline, up to and including termination, to Manager of Safety Alex Martinez, who heads the departments and the Denver Fire Department.

The additional deputy will make it easier to staff investigations around the clock, including when critical incidents such as police-involved shootings take place, Mitchell said. It will also give him more time to work on "big-picture policy issues" and community outreach, he said.

The new analyst will make it possible for the office, which was created in 2005, to do more research on policies and other matters, Reynolds said. "We are very excited about that."

Mitchell, 37, wouldn't say what policies he will recommend the departments change — only that he wants to make adjustments to improve services to the community and raise residents' confidence level in law enforcement.

Rosenthal was roundly disliked by police, who said he overstepped the bounds of his office. His annual and quarterly reports often contained analysis and conclusions that rankled cops. Also, discipline being meted out toughened on his watch.

They were particularly angered when Rosenthal and the Citizen Oversight Board clashed with then-Safety Manager Ron Perea, saying publicly that discipline that Perea gave in two excessive-force cases was too light.

In his last report before leaving, Rosenthal accused members of the Internal Affairs Bureau of favoring the officers they investigated and called the bureau incapable of policing cops.

University of Nebraska professor emeritus Samuel Walker,

who has studied policing and citizen oversight for 20 years, said Rosenthal did a good job of monitoring law enforcement misconduct. He called reports that Rosenthal issued making note of problem areas and recommendations to fix them "impressive."

Increasing focus on policy can lead to further improvements in policing, said Walker, who has written 11 books on policing, criminal justice history and policy, and civil liberties.

"There have been some agencies that got bogged down in individual cases, and that consumes an enormous amount of time, and you are bogged down in looking at symptoms rather than causes," Walker said.

Why make an officer who is following policy the "fall guy" when the problem could be training, a poor use of force policy or lousy supervision, Walker said.

Safety Manager Martinez labeled Rosenthal's last report "nitpicky" and said none of the points he raised would have changed the outcome of the investigations.

But Police Chief Robert White, who took over the department shortly before Rosenthal left, replaced the head of the Internal Affairs Bureau and the division's staff as part of an ongoing department shake-up.

White said at the time that questions Rosenthal had raised about IAB played a part in his decision to overhaul the bureau.

Nick Rogers, president of the Denver Police Protective Association, said Mitchell has done nothing to upset the union's members since taking over the office in August.

And Mitchell, who grew up in a South Brooklyn neighborhood where crime was no stranger, said he values police protection.

Conversations the two have had have been productive, Rogers said.

Mitchell's style is less confrontational than that of his predecessor, Reynolds said.

"Richard was always just a little-pit-bull-in-a-fighting-match kind of guy. Nick is a little different in that way, a little more measured in his approach," said Reynolds. "It's not a value judgment either way; they are just very different."

Mitchell, who was once an investigator for the New York City Civilian Compl