Denver City Council members said Monday that they will press Police Chief Gerry Whitman about how he deploys officers because they are concerned about the level of patrols in neighborhoods.
“I think the chief has some explaining about staffing to do,” said council President Rosemary Rodriguez. “I certainly have some questions.”
Her comments came after an analysis Sunday in The Denver Post showing that areas of the city with the most calls for police service have the fewest officers per capita.
For instance, a resident living on the city’s northeast side has nearly twice as many officers protecting him as someone in southwest Denver, even though the southwest area generates about four times as many calls for police service.
Neighborhood leaders also weighed in Monday, saying they feared affluent areas were getting better police enforcement than poorer areas.
“Is it based on money?” asked Loretta Galla, president of the Greater Mar Lee Neighborhood Association in southwest Denver. “Because it sounds like the areas that they are putting the influx of police officers are in downtown Denver, where people are spending money, or in Green Valley Ranch, where the average home income is higher.”
She added: “I pay my taxes, and I believe I deserve the services of the city as much as the guy in Green Valley Ranch.”
Whitman and his command staff have said police deployment is a complicated process that relies on other factors besides calls for service and population. Geography, crime patterns and street knowledge also come into play, they have said.
“We have a whole list of things we measure for deployment, and they are all based on how to take care of policing,” Whitman said Monday. “It’s not based on the economics of the neighborhood.”
Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz, head of the council’s safety committee, said she plans to raise concerns with the chief in a private conversation.
In particular, she said she is disturbed that new police hires authorized in this year’s budget weren’t going to be evenly spread out among the city’s six police districts.
“We on the council did have an expectation about an equal distribution of the officers,” Faatz said. “That was what we had talked about.”
Whitman plans to add four new squad cars to northeast Denver districts – areas with the least amount of calls for police service. Police officials say the area is growing and has vast areas that must be patrolled.
Residents in southeast Denver, covered by Patrol District 3, also were raising concerns.
“Even in District 3, the time to answer a police call was one of the longest,” said Diane Wolta, president of the Virginia/Ellis Community Association, who was speaking on her own behalf and not for her organization. “I’m like, ‘Geez, how can that be unless there weren’t enough officer for calls?”‘
No new patrols currently are planned for District 3, generally south of East Colfax Avenue and east of Downing Street. It is the largest patrol district in the city in terms of population, second largest in physical size and second in the number of calls for service.
Yet, it is last in the number of police officers per 10,000 residents and next to last in the number of officers per square mile, and it has the longest response time for critical incidents.
“I hear about it all the time,” said Councilman Charlie Brown.
But the councilman also said he is a realist.
“I know the financial constraints our city faces. I’m going to lobby strongly for more cops on the street for my district. Everybody does that, and there will never be enough.”
Councilwoman Marcia Johnson, whose district is partly within Patrol District 3, thinks the numbers that make those in southeast Denver seem underserved may be somewhat skewed because residents of those parts of the city may “have higher expectations of the police,” making more calls for service.
“I have nothing but praise for the police presence that I have been allocated,” she said.
Staff writer Christopher N. Osher can be reached at 303-820-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com.
