Twice in the past two weeks, community organizer Roger Cobb has been pulled over by police in his Cole-Whittier neighborhood. He believes it’s solely because he is black.
On Wednesday, Cobb was among two dozen community leaders meeting with Mayor John Hickenlooper to address their concerns that stepped-up policing of Cole-Whittier – referred to by some as the “broken windows” campaign – was resulting in unfair treatment of the poor and minorities.
Hickenlooper said the city would listen to community input in designing the policing effort but assured residents that the goal was to make the neighborhood safer.
“I’m not going to say that racial profiling doesn’t happen, but it exists less now than it did three years ago and it will exist even less in two or three years,” Hickenlooper said. “We can’t just snap our fingers and have it all suddenly be right.”
A “knee-jerk reaction”
In recent weeks, community organizers have placed leaflets on doors denouncing broken windows. They’re planning a series of resident surveys about whether the increased police activity solves the crime problem.
“I think the knee-jerk reaction in addressing crime has been to make a bigger police presence,” Cobb said. “But more eyes and ears out in their patrol cars isn’t necessarily going to get to the roots of the problems.”
One of the concerns Hickenlooper addressed is that the program has resulted in more police patrols rather than officers getting to know residents.
“I always see police cars in my neighborhood, but have yet to see one police officer (patrolling) on foot,” resident Juana Rosa Cavero said.
The theory behind the effort is that targeting smaller crimes such as loitering, graffiti and public drunkenness is a way to prevent more serious crime.
Assessing their strategy
City officials have shied away from using the “broken windows” term, fearing that the name promotes negative perceptions in the community.
But the department waged a broken-windows-type effort in the city’s Westwood neighborhood last year. It resulted in a 24 percent reduction of crime while arrests increased by about 53 percent, officials said.
However, there has not been an in-depth study of Westwood, residents pointed out.
And the mayor agreed that data should be compiled to better show what problem the police are solving.
“If this isn’t serving the neighborhood and making it safer for its residents, then we’ll stop it,” Hickenlooper said.
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-954-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com.
