Denver police officers as of today won't carry blackjacks and must comply with a host of other rules governing the use of stun guns and other implements, thanks to 2008 deadly force audit recommendations only now taking effect.

The new rules coincide with the release of the Denver independent monitor's report, which points out a downward trend in officer shootings but highlights the most serious disciplinary problems in the police and sheriff's departments.

Police Chief Gerry Whitman said the new policy puts into the rule book the common-sense practices already used by officers in most cases.

"We've had great success with training officers and allowing them to make decisions," Whitman said. "The more we put these (practices) into policy and train on them, the easier it is to make decisions quickly."

A 2008 audit by the Police Assessment Resource Center cited as unsafe the use of handguns, flashlights and blackjacks — also called saps — to strike people.

Instead of blackjacks, officers will use foldout batons more commonly employed by other cities, Whitman said. Flashlights and handguns will not be allowed as striking weapons except as a last resort.

And officers in most cases won't be allowed to use a stun gun on people who could fall and seriously injure or kill themselves, people driving a car, people holding a firearm or the elderly and disabled.

The policies — on which officers have been training for months — solve problems that don't exist with the Police Department and could trip up officers in the future, said Mike Mosco, president of Denver Police Protective Association.

"When you put in these unnecessary policies, you're setting up people to fail," Mosco said. "This is a knee- jerk reaction by our administration."

A review of Denver police disciplinary actions since 2006 revealed one prominent case of stun-gun abuse when an officer stunned an uncooperative prisoner in the neck and used a racially charged phrase.

Just as rare was a single instance cited by the independent monitor of an officer striking a suspect on the head with a handgun in the course of investigating a 2009 shooting of an officer, an incident still under investigation.

In all, shootings by officers dropped from 10 on-duty incidents in 2006 to three in 2009, according to the annual report by independent monitor Richard Rosenthal, whose report covered 2009.

A fifth of the 35 most serious conduct problems that Rosenthal cited involved the use of drugs or alcohol, including four officers who either resigned or were suspended for driving under the influence while off duty.

Nearly a fifth of disciplinary actions were aimed at officers who either used excessive or unnecessary force or filed false or incomplete reports about use-of-force infractions to cover for colleagues.

Two sheriff's deputies — Vivian Weeks and Steven Koehler — were fired for allegedly kicking and otherwise abusing inmates in their custody. Weeks was reinstated, and the city is appealing that decision. Koehler is appealing his termination.