WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. — As more businesses find a home on 38th Avenue, the Wheat Ridge Police Department says it's working to make more of an effort to build relationships with their owners.
38th Avenue has seen some crime in the last year, including an aggravated robbery at a jewelry story in Denver last week and a jewelry store owner killed in Wheat Ridge last year. Wheat Ridge police are hoping to develop a rapport with business owners before any potential crime happens.
“This is an operation from the heart,” said Annika Pearson, a co-owner of Mr. Biscuits Bakery in Wheat Ridge. “All the way up, all the way down, this street, this block, this neighborhood is so perfect for us.”
“Basically, we want to have a great relationship with these businesses, with the folks, with the schools, before any bad things happen. So when they do need to call us, we already have a great place to start with that relationship,” said Alex Rose, the spokesman for the Wheat Ridge Police Department.
Rose said there's a lot on the horizon for 38th Avenue in just the next year or so.
“It's going to be a nice, big, green space where they can do an outdoor classroom or maybe some concert activity over there,” Rose said.
The Wheat Ridge Police Department has already held a few “Coffee with a Cop” events around town.
“It just provides better outcomes when you and I know each other on a personal level before our department has to come out and respond to your neighbors, or something down the block, because something crazy happened,” Rose said.
“I feel like I know these guys, I know half the policemen by name,” Pearson said. “And they're driving next to me and I don't have that nervous feeling because that is just my buddy, Tim.”
It's an effort to make these small businesses feel like a big part of the community they serve.
“Helps us out as a business to kind of just be able to put our best foot forward when we know we are backed with some safety, and then I feel great living here in this community,” Pearson said.
Wheat Ridge Police will host their next “Coffee with a Cop” event at the end of July. Check their social media for more information.
More reporting by Lauren Scafidi:
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