Denver police on Tuesday released a proposed policy on body cameras that requires officers to use them in most interactions with the public and imposes penalties for failing to use the devices.

Civil rights groups criticized the draft standards , saying they should mandate officers working off duty wear the devices and ensure the public is notified when they are being filmed.

“It’s a step in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go,” said Lisa Calderón, co-chair of the Colorado Latino Forum’s chapter in Denver.

The policy, released Tuesday for public comment, comes as the department fine tunes its rollout of 800 devices over the next year through a $6.1 million deal with Taser International.

Cmdr. Magen Dodge, who has been instrumental in developing the department’s body camera program, said the priority is on getting the cameras on the street.

The department is still considering a requirement that off-duty officers wear the devices, she said. The policy is still a work in progress.

“We looked at model policies,” Dodge said. “Everything that’s in model policies are in our policies.”

Dodge added that in certain interactions, including some mental health calls, police feel telling someone they are being recorded could “make the situation worse.”

Police conducted a six-month trial run of the cameras last year with officers in District 6, which covers LoDo, the central business district and some uptown neighborhoods.

Dodge said a study of that trial by a University of Cambridge researcher showed while officers were using body cameras, use of force incidents were 8 percent less likely. The researcher also found the cameras made use of force complaints 35 percent less likely and arrests 18 percent less likely.

“The presence of cameras has a positive impact on officers and citizens,” Dodge said. “…We’re trying to balance the benefits of the technology to some of the unintended consequences that any new technology or program will bring.”

Denver’s independent monitor, Nicholas Mitchell, criticized last year’s trial run, finding only about one of every four use-of-force incidents involving officers was recorded.

Cases where officers punched people, used pepper spray or Tasers, or struck people with batons were not recorded because officers failed to turn on cameras, technical malfunctions occurred or because the cameras were not distributed to enough people, Mitchell’s report found.

Police disputed Mitchell’s numbers, saying its preliminary reports indicate a much higher percentage of use-of-force cases were captured on video.

Mitchell told The Denver Post on Tuesday he is reviewing the draft policy and encouraged the public to submit their input.

In his criticism of the test program, Mitchell encouraged police to extend distribution of the cameras of off-duty officers, sergeants and the department’s SWAT team. Those recommendations were not heeded in the draft policy.

“His recommendations are still not being fully embraced,” Calderón said, adding the draft appears to be a “well-intentioned, but (a) surface kind-of response.”

Denise Maes, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, said the new policy does not “sufficiently protect the privacy of Denver citizens.”

“It’s unfortunate that DPD disregarded the recommendation to mandate that officers on off-duty work wear the cameras,” she said. “They are exited from the policy. Off-duty police officers have immense integration with the public and, in fact, have been the subject of notable allegations of excessive force.”

Maes said the policy also does not go far enough on disciplining those who disregard the policy. Police say the draft allows them to do just that in exercising discretion should an especially egregious case arise.

“I would note that these recommendations by and large were provided by the Independent Monitor Nick Mitchell,” she added. “His recommendations have been adopted by the American Bar Association and by other states across the country, yet DPD did not adopt these same recommendations. That’s suspect.”

The draft says officers are expected to activate the cameras whenever they are dispatched to any call for service, including during traffic stops, suicidal person s calls and foot chases. Cameras are to remain on, the policy says, until a situation has been “stabilized.”

Officers are also expected to “utilize ethical and legal discretion as well as good judgment when activating and deactivating” the cameras, according to the draft. Officers are encouraged in the policy to notify the public that the cameras are recording them.

Violations of the policy will result in a written reprimand for one infraction in a year-long period, the draft says. A second infraction in a year’s span will result in a fined day and a third will generate a formal disciplinary case.

“Purposeful, flagrant or repeated violations will result in more severe disciplinary action,” the policy says.

The comment period on the policy lasts two weeks and citizens can submit their input through an email address posted on the department’s website. Police say they hope the process will allow them to answer questions and implement feedback.

Officials say corporals and officers in District 6, as well as members of the gang unit, are slated to have cameras in the last quarter of this year. The remaining districts and bureaus will are set to be outfitted with the devices in the end of the second quarter of 2016.

Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JesseAPaul

Body camera public input email:

DPDCommunityFeedbackBodyWornCamera@denvergov.org.