COMMERCE CITY — Three years into a five-year plan to overhaul the Commerce City Police Department, city officials say they will need more time to make the needed changes.
City Manager Brian McBroom told the council at a study session Monday night that progress is being made but more needs to be done.
He spoke to the council before a closed-door meeting on how McBroom manages the police department.
“I think it’s going to take more time than we thought,” McBroom said.
The police department has seen low morale in recent years and a union survey showed that a majority of police officers lack faith in Police Chief Troy Smith.
Smith said recruiting has been hampered by recent negative publicity and the perception of police locally and nationwide. He noted a case this year in which a Commerce City officer faked his own shooting.
“This is a difficult time in our nation’s history,” Smith said.
The department has reduced the number of violent crime by 6 percent compared to the same time last year, while calls for service have increased 19 percent.
Use of force cases have also gone down by 314 percent over the past two years.
“There’s some positive changes going on,” Mayor Sean Ford said. “I do think both of them have made progress but I still think there is work that needs to be done.”
As part of that reform effort, the council has approved new body cameras for 2016.
The council has budgeted $130,000 for the cameras and $50,000 annually to maintain the body cam system.
The city is developing a policy for the body cameras and does not know yet how many of the department’s 95 uniformed officers will be using them.
Also, a new commander has been identified and will be responsible for the reforms. Commander Dennis Moon will be in charge of the reform effort.
A citizen advisory committee will help the department in regard to reforms.
“I’ve begun hearing loud and clear issues on the police department,” McBroom said of what happened shortly after he was hired in 2012. “It’s a very tough time to be going through reform efforts.
Some of those challenges include the area of recruiting, he said.
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175, cillescas@denverpost.com or @cillescasdp
