The commander continues to make 10 to 20 traffic stops a day in the area — mostly she gives warnings to slow down around schools — because she believes it makes the neighborhood safer.
“We have to be smarter in how we do policing,” she said.
Bancroft, who is white, shared the widespread disgust in Floyd’s murder and agreed with the officer’s second-degree murder conviction, but said the backlash against all officers, including herself, has been surprising.
“At some point, I became accountable for every police officer in the United States,” Bancroft said. “I’m responsible for myself and I’m accountable for what we do.”
But she has welcomed the renewed discussions about policing and police conduct within DPD.
“Those conversations need to be had because I’m not a Black person. I don’t know what that feels like, what that means to somebody, what this uniform means to somebody,” she said. “I think it does need to change and I think we need to have conversations about everything that happened in the past to get us to a better place.”
Police reform an issue locally, and statewide
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
State Sen. James Coleman grew up in DPD’s District Two and hears from constituents about how much policing and officer presence they want in Denver.
It’s also an issue he has first-hand experience with. He recently saw an African American teenager at the Green Valley Ranch recreation center wrongfully handcuffed and accused of a crime. And he has had "the talk" with his young twins — though they aren’t yet teenagers — about how to act when and if they’re ever stopped by police.
Still, Coleman doesn’t believe anyone in any community wants less policing, despite some talk about defunding the police last year.
“I don’t care what your skin color is, I don’t care what your experience is, no one says, ‘we just want less police here,’” he said. “I think the concern is, if there is a need for police, how they engage and interact and that data is reported.”
Lawmakers have aggressively tackled police reform in the past two years, passing a sweeping bill in 2020 that made it easier for officers to be sued, changed use of force rules and required body cameras for all law enforcement officers across the state.
This year, lawmakers continued their reform march; one new law overhauled misdemeanors and another makes it clear that police can use deadly force only as a “last resort” in conflicts with suspects.
New approach in high crime areas
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
In the first six months of the year, police stops remained down across the city, but that may change in a new effort launched by Pazen and his commanders, including Bancroft, that aims to target specific high-crime neighborhoods and add additional police presence.
In analyzing the most recent violent crime rates, Pazen found that just 1.5 percent of Denver’s landmass — five violent crime hotspots — accounted for 26 percent of homicides and aggravated assaults.
One of those neighborhoods is Northeast Park Hill.
He said residents in the targeted areas can expect to see more police out on bikes and on foot patrol, cleaning up graffiti and talking to people. The approach also pulls in other community resources to flood the problem areas — like groups that can help with mental health and housing.
“If we can work on these areas and reduce them, you’re going to save lives, you’re going to prevent harm from the community,” Pazen said.
That’s an approach Ty Allen will be interested in watching from the ground.
Allen opened up Mississippi Boy Catfish and Ribs a couple of months ago in Northeast Park Hill.
He had to call the police a few times last year while he was working on the restaurant, getting it ready to open. He said they were slow to respond. But he had a conversation with officers in the area and that has changed.
Allen said he doesn’t feel like the neighborhood is over-policed or that the residents are harassed by law enforcement.
“Do I feel safe? Absolutely. Do I feel like they’re going to respond now within a few minutes? Absolutely,” Allen said. “I’m not giving praise where it’s not due, but they’ve done a good job.”
"crime" - Google News
July 20, 2021 at 05:02PM
https://ift.tt/3kBmb0i
As Crime Rises In Denver, One Historically Black Neighborhood Considers What It Wants From Police - Colorado Public Radio
"crime" - Google News
https://ift.tt/37MG37k
https://ift.tt/2VTi5Ee
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "As Crime Rises In Denver, One Historically Black Neighborhood Considers What It Wants From Police - Colorado Public Radio"
Post a Comment