Neighborhood Crime / Security Update

After a series of home intrusions and burglaries throughout late February, over 100 participants joined a video conference on March 3rd organized by CCHN resident Chaun Powell to address security within CCHN. Our neighborhood residents joined Mayor Hancock, Councilman Hinds and his team, and many members of the Denver Police Department. (the “DPD”).
An arrest was made in early March and the DPD shared their gratitude for all who contributed video and photo evidence that allowed them to string together details to charge the individual with five different felonies.
The goal of the March 3rd video conference was to debrief on recent events, provide the good news about the arrest, and create the following plan of action:
1. Public Support of Increasing Funding for the DPD
Denver City Council allows public comment during a portion of each of their monthly meetings. Councilman Hinds shared that virtually all public comments through March were proposals to decrease funding for the DPD. Here are some statistics to justify the rationale for an increase in funding
– Denver’s population has grown 20% since 2010
– Since January of 2020, crime rates are on the rise (Overall crime rates are up 26%; Auto thefts are up 53%; Property Crimes are up 14%).
– The DPD is staffed with the same number of officers since 2012.
Chaun Powell spoke at the March City Council meeting in support of increasing funding for the DPD. If you wish to participate and submit your opinion, please do so by submitting comment at https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Departments/Denver-City-Council/Public-Input/General-Public-Comment. If accepted, you may also provide your input over a video platform so you are not obligated to be in person.
There is a subgroup of residents interested in better understanding the upcoming legislation around property crimes and penalties for criminals. The current processes call for release in 4 hours on a PR bond. Future legislation is likely to change this to property crimes resulting in citations rather than arrest. We will share findings once we have more information.
2. Neighborhood Watch and CCHN Security Email List
CCHN has launched a formal neighborhood watch program and is seeking volunteers to act as block communicators should we have reason to waterfall any communications. If interested in being a volunteer, please email cchnsafety@gmail.com. We would ideally like a volunteer from every block between Speer and 6th and Gaylord to Marion. We are attempting to schedule another meeting with Officer Borquex from the DPD on April 28th from 6 to 7pm.
We are also creating a list of CCHN members that would like to be notified of specific security issues within the neighborhood. Please email cchnsafety@gmail.com to be included in the security and safety specific emails and use the same email address to report any security issues that come to your attention. Please remember, if you have any emergency or active situation (i.e. someone present in your house or car), call 9-1-1.
3. Identify Other Means of Increasing Security
The CCHN Security Committee is also actively investigating the following means of increasing security for our residents: (i) installing Motorola license plate recognition cameras that communicate in real time with the DPP, (ii) increasing the cadence of decreasing the speed of HSS patrols, (iii) closed video networks throughout CCHN. The CCHN Security Committee understands that many of these measures have implications on cost and privacy and will be working with the city to ensure that the path forward is legal and cost effective.
Thank you to our residents for your commitment to keeping our great neighborhood safe! We all have a role in this important responsibility and will continue to vigilantly work to keep CCHN a safe and vibrant community.