DENVER, Colorado — The Denver Police Department wants to fight crime with a new program to increase community engagement while officers are doing patrols. In his State of the City address, Mayor Mike Johnston announced Trust Patrols as the new program with two goals: developing trust in the community and improving relationships to reduce crime.
"We know that the best way to stop crime is to prevent it, and the best way to prevent crime is to build trust," Mayor Johnston said.
He explained it as an opportunity for officers to get out of the patrol car and walk into a business or public place. Officers will then find out what's working, what's not and what can be done better.
The Denver Police Department launched the program last month, starting with 69 longstanding businesses that have been operating for 25 years or more.
"The goal of the trust policing initiative is to develop places where our residents and our officers can interact in non-enforcement settings, where we can build trust, get to know each other and improve relationships and also deliver some tips and strategies for reducing crime," Commander Jacob Herrera with the Denver Police Department said.
Right now, there are only specific officers who do community engagement. This program will allow it to happen with more officers across the board.
"The idea is to broaden our impact with the community policing," Commander Herrera said.
The department is now asking for businesses to sign up to become trust partners, where officers will stop by the business to hear from owners and employees about challenges with crime and safety concerns. The stop will be about 15 minutes long.
"Our goal would be to improve cooperation with us, in terms of reporting of crimes, to further investigation, being a good witness, but that all starts with having a personal relationship with officers you trust, you know, week to week, month to month," Commander Herrera said.
Herrera said he hopes the program will help officers with their mental health with positive interactions rather than negative ones like coming up to a crime scene.
"Anytime you want to add to what we already expect our police to do, you have to find something to take away," Herrera said. "So, we are looking at ways through new technology, through partnerships with different agencies at ways of reducing our service load so we can deliver these trust patrols."
Simultaneously, the department is also rolling out a separate program called Hot Streets Policing - specifically sending officers to intersections with elevated rates of violent crime. An officer will be stationed there for at least 10-15 minutes. The department said data shows that when you have an officer at a "hot location," there is a reduction in crime by up to 30% in the next two hours.
Johnston expects 6,000 trust patrols to run this year, and the department will continue outreach to get more businesses on board.