A former Denver Police sergeant lost his Colorado police certificate last month after making derogatory comments about an officer’s mental health and then lying about it during an internal affairs investigation, records show.
An internal investigation found that former Sergeant Theodore “Jim” Maher belittled an officer during morning roll call on his first day back from mental health leave in February 2022. The names and diagnoses of the reinstated officers were redacted in the records provided to The Denver Post in response to a public records request on Tuesday.
According to the internal affairs report, three officers told internal affairs investigators that Maher told the returning officers to “welcome back from the rubber gun unit” — an informal and derogatory term for officers whose guns had been removed due to mental health concerns.
According to the whistleblower report, a witness told investigators that when the sergeant made the statement, the elections official slumped in his chair “as if the life force had been drained from him.”
Maher denied making such comments and told internal affairs investigators if he had made such comments, “absolutely not.”
The police department ultimately determined Maher’s denials were false after an elections official and two others reviewed his statements, according to an internal report.
Maher, who joined the Denver Police Department in 2004, retired on Dec. 6, the day after the internal investigation findings were signed by Chief Ron Thomas. Records from the state Police Standards and Training Board show Maher resigned in lieu of firing.
The POST board disbarred Maher on June 7, which means he can no longer work as a police officer anywhere in Colorado.
He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
According to the internal investigation report, the complaint against the sergeant began when the sergeant, who was on administrative leave due to mental health concerns, wrote a memo to his superiors outlining how the Denver Police Department “had let him down regarding his mental health concerns and that he wanted to participate in improving the process.”
The officers had not intended to open an investigation into Maher but wrote down notes of the sergeant’s comments during roll call, which sparked the investigation.
In addition to his “rubber gun unit” comments, the internal investigation also found that Maher had regularly made derogatory remarks about the mental health of police officers.
Sign up to get crime news delivered straight to your inbox daily.
