Northeast Denver this month will get a custom-tailored policing strategy focused on sharply reducing neighborhood crime. We certainly hope the changes achieve the intended results, and that they can be a template for the whole city.
The key change in Districts 2 and 5 will see officers deployed in assigned sectors and focused on fighting crime in those areas, rather than being available for dispatch over wider territory. The plan is based on recommendations of the Hanover Justice Group of New Jersey, which has been working with the city. So-called “broken windows” policing was tested in the Westwood neighborhood earlier this year and yielded remarkable results, and the department hopes to go citywide with the new strategy in 2007.
Mayor John Hickenlooper started sweeping police reforms after taking office in July 2003, only days after Officer James Turney killed mentally disabled teenager Paul Childs. That tragedy and the 2004 police killing of Frank Lobato gave impetus to such changes as wider distribution of less-lethal weaponry, better deadly force training, crisis-intervention courses and an independent police monitor’s office.
“Broken windows” targets crimes such as graffiti to start restoring order to an area. In Westwood, crime was reduced “in the high teens,” said Jeremy Bronson, the mayor’s special assistant for public safety. “People just didn’t go out before,” he said. “You see a lot more people out walking (now).”
The new patrol system is embraced enthusiastically by City Council members Elbra Wedgeworth and Michael Hancock, who represent areas served by Districts 2 and 5, including Green Valley Ranch, Montbello, Park Hill, North Park Hill and the Cole-Whittier neighborhood. Lieutenants will direct patrol officers’ activities within their respective sectors, each roughly one-third of a district. Ideally, officers will spend more than half of each hour on proactive policing (versus about 20 minutes currently). Policing will be “less random and more directed,” Chief Gerry Whitman said.
Joe Sandoval, professor of criminal justice at Metropolitan State College, said much current policing currently is reactive, “and nobody is satisfied with that.” But there are “difficulties with community-based problem-solving policing,” such as the time it takes, he said. Still, “it is a step in a very positive direction.”
Whitman and Bronson say patrol lieutenants will be responsible 24/7 for all that occurs within their sectors and for developing strategies to solve problems. New information systems will help commanders track trends and deploy officers more effectively.
Districts 2 and 5 have enough officers to implement the changes, thanks to getting additional staffing and “civilianizing” tasks that took officers off the street, according to Whitman.
“I think the police want to do their jobs better,” said Wedgeworth. “I think it’s a better way for them to do their jobs.”
“I’m excited it’s coming to the area,” said Hancock. “Wherever (these) programs have gone in, we’ve seen a positive impact.”
Mike Mosco, president of the Denver Police Protective Association, said proactive policing will “require a change in the way of thinking,” but he agrees that in Westwood, “broken windows” decreased crime and boosted officer morale. Still, “citizens are going to have to realize they will not have a police officer come to them for everything under the sun,” Mosco said. “They can no longer call the police when a street light’s out.” Cops will like the approach, he said, because “they’ll have more opportunity to solve problems and catch the bad guys.”
Wedgeworth and Hancock feel the independent police monitor system is “working great.” Monitor Richard Rosenthal reports “a high satisfaction rate” for the 35 mediations handled to date.
While work remains to be done, Denver citizens can be heartened by the progress that’s been made in policing in the last three years.
