The Denver Police Department’s “broken windows” policing initiative in the Westwood neighborhood has increased arrests there by nearly 50 percent, new crime statistics show.
Police also made nearly twice as many traffic stops in Westwood in the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year, the data show. Police made 1,413 traffic stops from January through June of this year.
The data show that arrests overall in that area in southwest Denver jumped from 514 to 768, an increase of 49 percent.
During the same time frame, arrests for the entire city increased at a slower rate, by 8.9 percent, to 34,950.
A New Jersey consultant, the Hanover Justice Group, recommended that Denver test the “broken windows” policing approach in Westwood.
The “broken windows” theory holds that cracking down on lower-level crimes such as graffiti creates an environment that makes citizens more likely to reclaim high-crime areas.
Critics argue that the aggressive approach by police will produce complaints of harassment.
The Police Department said there were as many as three complaints during the test period.
The crime data showed that for the first six months of this year, compared with 2005, officer-initiated calls for police service in Westwood rose to 1,844, or nearly 70 percent.
Officer-initiated action also is up for the entire city, but not as steeply.
Meanwhile, citizens seeking police assistance declined by nearly 10 percent in Westwood during the six-month period.
