Denver's police reform panel is recommending changes to the police department's use of force policy nearly a year after a Denver police officer killed a developmentally disabled teenager in a controversial shooting.

Mayor John Hickenlooper promised that the changes suggested by the 38-member task force will be implemented and five of the changes would be enacted immediately.

Language emphasizing the value of human life will be added to that policy as well as language emphasizing that an officer can de-escalate a situation to help defuse it.

The policy also urges officers to use non-lethal means to subdue violent suspects and call an officer trained in crisis intervention when dealing with people with mental, emotional or developmental problems.

There's also a paragraph discouraging officers from firing at moving vehicles except in self-defense or to protect others.

The task force had been working on the recommendations for the past 14 weeks.

"If I had to find two words that describe the process the best, it would be passion and frustration," said Al LaCabe, Manager of Safety and member of the task force.

The panel agreed on some additions to the policy, but one panel member, a police officer, said state statutes and police training already teach officers the same things.

"The end result is really not going to change anything for the officers on the Denver Police Department," said Nick Rogers, vice president of the police union.

Rogers said too many people on the panel had an anti-police agenda.

"They were unwilling to compromise or to see that there were other people involved in the process that needed to be considered," he said.

Still, Police Chief Gerry Whitman believes the recommendations make an important statement.

"I think it's important for the officers to go past the training and be held accountable for a specific policy statement, and I think that's what the community expected out of this, too," Whitman said.

The task force also recommended creating an independent agency to monitor the police department and work with an existing civilian review board. The panel, though, couldn't agree on the agency's composition and the extent of its authority and involvement.

"From the beginning, it was always our intent to address these issues head-on," said Hickenlooper, who took office about two weeks after 15-year-old Paul Childs was fatally shot by an officer last July.

Childs' death outraged many in the black community, which has complained for years of abuse by police. Childs was black. Officer James Turney, who shot him, is of Asian descent.

Turney said he shot Childs when the boy refused to drop a knife. His family called police, saying the boy was threatening his mother.

Turney was suspended for 10 months without pay, which prompted a protest by hundreds of police officers. The city agreed in May to pay $1.3 million to settle a lawsuit by Childs' family.

Police said Turney, cleared of criminal wrongdoing, was following policy.

The police department is also beefing up its training and has bought 100 new Taser stun guns. Officers have started taking 45 hours of crisis intervention training, now required for all new officers.

Hickenlooper said about half the department will complete the training by year's end.

Whitman said Denver's training already exceeded requirements. He said freeing officers to go through an additional 45 hours is a huge task and will strain the budget.

But improving the training is important, Whitman said.

"This is a lot more complex job than it was back in '78 when I got started," he said.