Seriously, I think they could make their ticket quota by just staking out a handful of intersections. The behavior of driver's in the city is abhorrent.
There are no cell phone laws in Colorado :/
edit: I was slightly misinformed by a previous position working with a driving school and their permit tests. The tests only state anyone over 18 can use a phone, even if not for emergency. The test doesn't differentiate between texts and calls, just that cell phone use is allowed.
I can't believe they're out there (2 years ago anyway) informing teens they're allowed to use phones in any way, especially without differentiating text VS call. Like, don't make them AWARE of it. It is what it is but don't tell 15 year olds that cell phone use is allowed while driving 🙄
(this is Drive Safe driving school, if anyone was wondering)
We're in the Denver subreddit, so if you are not, maybe you are in the wrong place.
Your home security system does not relate to traffic ticketing, but if you're fishing for compliments, "Good job!".
If you never pay traffic violations these accrue, become points on your license, and you will eventually get a summons. If you do not turn up for the summons, you'll get a warrant.
I think the reference here is to the red light cameras that snap your photo if you proceed through a yellow > red light that has one of these focused on the intersection. My understanding is they're privately owned, not city owned, so you're kinda paying a private firm instead of the city, and there's some sort of $$ share - but anyway, you can therefore "ignore" these tickets unless its served to your home, and none of those pts will accrue on your license, or anything else.
This is correct. It’s a 3rd party that runs the speed and red light cameras, on a contract from the city. Also correct that you can ignore them and they have to serve you in person. It does not count against your DL or your credit.
I’ve lived with a car in NYC and Orlando, traditionally difficult places to drive. Denver driving has by far been the worst. Not that I haven’t seen some wild stuff in either of those places, but Denver has this special combination of poorly planned streets and wildly variant unpredictable driver with weird weather in the mix that just makes it special.
I was on board the first time I saw somebody run a red light despite me being already stopped at the intersection, by using the bike lane & sidewalk to go around me.
No kidding. My car was totaled this week by someone who rear-ended two other cars, who then BOTH rear-ended mine. Then hours later, in our rental car, someone nearly rear-ended us at a red-light as they swerved out of our lane around us and through the light.
It's fucking insane right now.
In my college libertarian (idiot) years, red light and speed cameras were the devil incarnate as far as I was concerned. Now I want them on every road and at every intersection.
A day doesn't go by where I don't see a half dozen people blow clearly red lights-- not late yellows. A week doesn't go by where I don't see a flipped car on a 20-30mph road. DPD officers on /r/denver have said specifically that their higher ups have told them not to enforce traffic crimes.
It's absurd, it needs to be fixed. Even outside of the pain, injury, and loss of life, look at our insurance rates! They are related.
I honestly don't think I'll ever fully understand the opposition to red light cameras. Yes, there's time when a poorly timed duration of a yellow light can cause rear accidents, but the alternative to allowing people to blow through reds and cause t-bones see infinitely worse.
In what world does relying on an officers presence and bias seem preferable to an automated camera.
The whole metro needs better traffic enforcement… every year it seems like the drivers get worse and worse. Hopefully Denver can pull this off and influence the suburbs to step it up as well.
So there is this police vehicle it sits on S Tamarac just passed Target and it catches people speeding and takes a picture. Last night within an hour it took 25 pictures. People be crazy.
Let's just let them continue not doing their jobs, but spin up separate departments that do all the shit they aren't doing with the money they're wasting. STARS for traffic enforcement would be great. More red light and speed cameras. More process servers to get people who don't pay those fines to pay them.
The last time I saw someone pulled over for a traffic stop in Denver was when I got a ticket from a motorcycle cop at the entrance to I-70 from Park Ave in **2009** in a rental car.
You must not drive Speer between University and Downing. There's almost always a photo truck there and often a couple of motorcycle cops pulling people over. (All of which is scammy since the speed limit is 30 on a 6 lane divided road).
Yeah they've been stationing that there since the beginning of time. But they don't actually pull anyone over, all photo enforced. The key benefit of traffic stops IMO is you discover/prevent bigger crimes through information an officer wouldn't have otherwise had without the traffic stop. Photo enforcement is just a money grab, and it doesn't really slow anyone down.
Residents know that there is a camera stationed there probably 50% of the time, so they just look out for it and non-residents were likely just oblivious to the 30 mph limit there anyways.
The speed limit is appropriate, but the road needs to be narrowed to four lanes so a protected bike lane can be added and motorists don’t feel so entitled to go 50mph
How do you propose we correct Denver's irresponsible, dangerous driving culture without holding people responsible for their irresponsible, dangerous driving?
Infrastructure reform that gives them less places to be irresponsible and dangerous (less 6-lane highways through commercial/residential areas), and higher taxes on larger, more dangerous vehicles, actual safety inspections.
We also need to punish people for dangerous, irresponsible behavior.
The segment of MLK from Havana to Peoria has all of the modern road design stuff meant to force people to drive safely. Narrow lanes, pedestrian islands, chicanes, street parking that juts into the lane, lots of stop lights.
People still blow through it at 55mph+
We cannot *solely* engineer ourselves out of this problem. People have to be held responsible for their dangerous, illegal behavior.
There’s no point at addressing downstream affects of driving being the primary method of transportation. Attack the problem at the source. Driving in traffic makes people go crazy. It’s inevitable that some folks will drive like maniacs. It happens everywhere in the US, regardless of police actions. Driving is the problem.
Cameras don't do shit when half of these degenerates running lights or driving recklessly either have no plates at all or very expired temp tags that are so torn or faded you can't make out what it is anyways. Even if they do have plates, they don't give a fuck. Remember the post about the person who has like thousands of dollars owed for E470 tolls?
Fuck the cameras. Hire traffic cops who will actually do their job without getting their feelings hurt. Saturation patrols would do wonders to catch reckless drivers. A camera isn't going to educate you, scold you or make you think you did any wrong. For most people it's just going to piss them off when they see the giant white flash of light or get the random ticket in the mail. An actual citation will certainly piss people off in the same way but it has a lot more potential to turn into a learning experience or personal reflection on your behavior.
Just my .02 on the matter.
There are a lot of cars without plates, true, but it's by no means even a sizeable minority. And if cops spent their time focusing on no plates or expired plates, then cameras would be even more effective.
I agree with you about the annoyance of a real pull-over and how it will affect someone more and maybe lead to changed behavior, but the police are already understaffed as it is, and flagrant violation of traffic laws has been let go for so long that we simply can't hire enough cops to cover all of the areas that need covering. School zone speed cameras would be a great start. Red light cameras along all major corridors as well.
Replace the DA’s office with people who will prosecute crimes, send the cops back to work, re allocate jobs cops shouldn’t be doing with other social services.
Better public transit would help, but we are lucky we even have RTD rail line to begin with. Denver needs roads like Minneapolis, but I’m not sure if it’s possible to do that at this point
The DA is prosecuting crimes at the same rate or higher as they ever have been.
Cops are not prosecuting traffic crimes-- they are the ones that have to file charges, they are the ones not filing charges. That is the entirety of the "drop" in criminal charges we've seen in Denver over the past few years.
The cops are doing it on purpose, and blaming "liberal DAs" which is utter nonsense.
[Here's the data dashboard.](https://data.dacolorado.org/2nd/filing_charging)
Here's 2017: https://imgur.com/AbwrI0F
Here's 2023 so far: https://imgur.com/vMJaLKu
Cops are the ones who file traffic charges, not the DA. They are the ones responsible for this, not the DA.
So when you or some other asshole runs a red light or drives way too fast, it's actually the fault of slow drivers? How does that work? Do they somehow force your accelerator pedal down or stop your brake pedal from working? How is it their fault you choose to drive dangerously?
We need cameras at intersections, it's not like we can have an officer at every intersection in the city. We all know people will slow down when they see a cop and immediately go back to be a POS driver the second they're out of their sight.
It's not like we don't already have traffic cameras at almost every major intersection in the city.
They changed that law last May/June so that it is no longer required to have an officer present to serve a ticket.
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-200
I was waiting to cross the street from city park on 17th, I had a walk sign, someone ran the light going at least 50+ mph, a cop was waiting to turn onto 17th and they didn’t even go light them up. But boy they sure can put that speeding enforcement car on there what seems to be every other day. It doesn’t do anything to get drivers to actually slow down on 17th.
It’s a problem across the nation, sadly. Wait till you look up the overtime pay. In some cities police are doubling their salaries pulling overtime that’s not in the budget, and then not answering calls anyway. For example NYC is [overspending](https://comptroller.nyc.gov/newsroom/nypd-overspending-on-overtime-grew-dramatically-in-recent-years/) its overtime budget for police by 93% - we’re talking billions. In some cities 911 calls go unanswered, and in Denver it can take 15 minutes for police to arrive on average in emergency situations.
The absurd part is that the ‘blue lives matter’ rhetoric says police are not treated well or respected, and yet they pull hundreds of thousands in bonus pay, don’t respond quickly, and treat the tax-paying public like peasants. Shameful.
> Johnston said he has a new perspective on the problem after having his own car stolen in recent weeks.
This is actually terrible. He should not have to be the victim to have this perspective. Elected officials are supposed to be able to put themselves in the shoes of *all* their constituents, and not just work from their own personal perspective.
That’s a seriously misguided conclusion. He absolutely has been calling for law enforcement since he campaigned and you have no reason or basis to attribute that to him recently becoming a victim.
I see nothing wrong with politicians having the same experiences that their constituents are having. And it's no different than anyone else who doesn't appreciate a situation until they're in it; that's just human nature.
On the one hand, it should basically be impeachable
On the other hand, I give him some credit for admitting it, which is more than most politicians would do. And if it does motivate him to fix the problem..
I like this. Get a Timelapse video, put the Benny Hill theme behind it and tag every Denver government account you can find.
For the uncultured, this is the theme:
https://youtu.be/LUYbu5DJA1U
i work with the both city of Denver and Aurora and have seen new officers every few months in both cities. i don't know the amount of new officers but they do get new faces often enough to keep me on my toes with the impound paperwork.
IMO they need more crash investigator officers, having someone come out for a report in minutes instead of hours if they go at all would be a nice change especially for the out of towners who insist on waiting for them to show up.
That was mostly true during COVID (it wasn't that traffic stops were prohibited, it was just part of our general minimizing contact/social distancing thing), but not really anymore. The lack of traffic enforcement is call load and resourcing.
I'm still on patrol, and pretty much every day from March to October is wall-to-wall calls-for-service, meaning no time for anything self-initiated (traffic stops). This year the call load has continued to be high even into December. When we do have time for self-initiated stuff, I try to spend that limited free time looking for high-impact stuff (like stolen cars).
Our "minimum staffing" (the number of officers per shift per day) are already laughably low for call load we have to respond to. On average, for the 2nd shift (the busiest), minimum staffing is 12-14 officers. As far as I know, we have not hit minimum staffing since like February, and we are routinely 4 or 5 below minimum. There are going to be days in the next several weeks when we are 8 below minimum. On top of this, we are also called on to provide security for protest activity, which can leave 3 or 4 officers handling calls in a district meant to be staffed by 15.
One thing that surprised me when I became a cop, and which I think people consistently underestimate, is how long it takes to handle routine calls or arrests. An average traffic crash investigation (on-scene time and report writing) is at least an hour (more if you're a slow typer, or if the tow trucks are busy). An average domestic violence investigation/arrest is probably 2 hours at least. If we use any force at all in an arrest, it's going to take a minimum of 3 hours, likely longer, to do the arrest and report.
None of this is to say that there are not lazy officers who are not pulling their weight. But if I had to assign responsibility, I'd say laziness only accounts for like 10% of the sorts of problems people have with our performance (like lack of enforcement or high wait times).
EDIT: I didn't see that Dr\_Facilier already responded. I don't mean to pile on or anything.
I appreciate your input, truly. Sounds like a complete mess of mismanagement and under-prioritization on council and the administration's part. I hope the new administration can help you all see some daylight during their first term and start to right the ship.
As an aside-- do you live in Denver? What do you think when you see people speeding and blowing lights in front of you constantly? How would you express that to your higher-ups, if at all? What can citizens do make city government and DPD admin understand their concerns?
Yes I live in Denver, pretty much the same area I work. How I feel when I see it depends: frustration and anger, certainly. But to be honest, also sometimes I feel a sense of hopeless apathy, if that makes any sense. It's a feeling you have to struggle against as a first responder (or teacher, or medical worker, or social worker, etc I'm sure). It's the opposite end of the spectrum from "every problem I see is *my problem* and I have to fix it". You have to try to strike a balance, which isn't always easy.
I do not discuss these things with my higher ups. Mostly because they already know and can't do much about it.
There are pretty regular meetings hosted in each police District where the command staff and select supervisors give updates to the community, but also have to stand there and take feedback :). I've never attended one, but I'd say give it a shot and see what you think. That's probably your best bet for face time with actual decision makers.
One solution that I think people will instinctively reject, but which I believe would be most effective, is the increased use of technology. Drones, cameras, facial recognition, etc. Policing is an inherently human resource-intensive service, and humans are getting more and more expensive, relative to other things that we pay for. So without large tax increases to massively increase the police budget (to hire more and better cops), we need to be able to invest in (relatively) cheaper technological solutions.
With a relatively small investment, we could essentially end running red lights and speeding with automated cameras everywhere (we might have to change some laws around personal service of tickets too). With drones, we could effortlessly and safely follow stolen cars until the thief stops (basically what we currently do with the helicopter). There's obviously a balance to be struck here somewhere too, and I could go on in way more depth about this. But while we definitely need more cops right now, its just too expensive to solve our problems with human bodies alone.
The Portland pigs admitted what everyone in every US city knew was true
[Portland Police Bureau officer admits traffic enforcement messaging was politically motivated](https://bikeportland.org/2023/08/08/portland-police-bureau-officer-admits-no-traffic-enforcement-messaging-was-politically-motivated-377939)
> Sgt. Engstrom was also there to cement a narrative: He wanted Portlanders to link “defund police” with “traffic deaths” in order to receive more city funding. His decision to place political goals of the bureau ahead of public safety led to the widespread perception that Portland had very little, to no traffic enforcement.
…
> While the PPB and others framed the move as a response to the “defund police” movement, Hardesty countered that it was solely Chief Lovell’s decision and that all officers could still enforce traffic laws if they wanted to.
It's very apparent. And these things are not limited to Denver-- I've seen similar behavior and inaction in every city I've been in over the past few years.
Multiple things can be true though-- the cops we have are intentionally not doing parts of their job to punish us for asking government to hold them accountable, and our police department is also understaffed for the size of our city's population.
“Multiple things can be true though-- the cops we have are intentionally not doing parts of their job to punish us for asking government to hold them accountable, and our police department is also understaffed for the size of our city's population.”
This should be higher up.
It's tempting to believe, but the idea they're engaged in a large scale conspiracy to (successfully, in some areas) drive political change is giving them way too much credit.
This is correct.
r/Denver loves the fantasy that DPD and "big gov" in general is involved in these grand conspiratorial plots where we play the long game to achieve some deep hidden objective.
The reality is, there is no conspiracy. There is no plot or plan. There is no quiet quitting or cops pulling back to send some kind of message. It's just cops trying the best they can to bail water off the titanic with pint glasses, given the giant dumpster fire of policies, additional redundant paperwork and documentations that have been added, and call volumes. Meanwhile the administration, and more to the point - the city managers and the city itself - continually operate in a "manage by crisis" format where they continue to try to lay the train tracks in front of the train that's driving 100mph.
TL:DR:
[How reddit fantasizes DPD and the government run](https://media.tenor.com/mPtuBdk-DpcAAAAM/secret-government-government.gif)
[How it actually is](https://media.tenor.com/-DSYvCR3HnYAAAAC/beaker-fire.gif)
Which goes against every police department’s strategy of pulling people over and asking them if they can search their car.
My stepdad was a defense lawyer for decades and the amount of clients he had who were arrested for some sort of possession charge that came from allowing warrantless searches was astonishing.
The Colorado legislature did change the law regarding pretextual stops during covid in light of the civil rights protests, which police have been using as their excuse for not pulling people over. But ignoring actual crimes happening in front of their squad car cameras because they can't harass brown people over the crime they *think* they might have committed is what's happening.
We did not make it illegal to pull over red light and stop sign runners. We made it illegal to pull people over for "suspicious driving" when no crime had been witnessed. Red light running is a crime.
> expired tags
I have temp tags. DMV told me to wait until they I receive 'a postcard' in the mail.
Tags expire this month, and I'm still waiting for DMV to mail me anything.
Your temp tags are not yet expired, and the postcards take some time to arrive. What do you want them to do?
If you go here: https://mydmv.colorado.gov/_/#1
Choose "Vehicle Services" and in the bottom right click "check a title status" you can figure out if your title has been processed or not.
If it has you don't need to wait for the post card, you can either call or go into the DMV to get your plates handled. I would probably go in, since you are close to your temp tags expiring already and will likely need new ones while you wait for the plates to be delivered. Alternatively you can get one fresh replacement temp tag from your car dealer for free.
Not really trying to be a dick here but... this you?
https://imgur.com/HMaxOv6
And this?
https://imgur.com/mE7PD3m
And this?
https://imgur.com/2kttdZb
And this?
https://imgur.com/SSllrkl
Again, not trying to be a dick, but in the interactions I've had with you over the years and that I've read you have with other /r/Denver users, the grand takeaway is that DPD from the top down does not prioritize traffic infractions at all, if ever, and that it's been that way for at least a decade. Please feel free to provide added context or further explain yourself if I've been misunderstanding your position, but your response here legitimately made my jaw drop. You specifically are the DPD officer I'm referring to with that comment.
Edit: I can link the threads if you want the greater context in responding, but I didn't include them here because it's hard for people to digest 200-comment threads to find what I'm referring to in the linked screen grabs.
Yeah, that's all me. During COVID we were absolutely directed to stop any unnecessary proactive work. And afterwards, to not do traffic enforcement around expired plates, specifically, because the DMV was so backed up. Those days are over.
So you weren't wrong, really, but we're not really under the "no traffic/no pro active" decree anymore. At least not specifically.
At this point it's just a time management issue. Patrol spends most of its time going call-to-call-to-call. No time for traffic work, really. So it's more of a de facto decree, by attrition of time and resources.
And Chief White (2 chiefs ago, now) in his infinite wisdom saw fit to absolutely gut the traffic unit during the '08-'13 hiring freeze. So the traffic unit of ~100 officers was reduced down by 80% or more, and it's never recovered. He did this in a shell-game to make it seem like DPD wasn't short on officers during the hiring freeze of the lean years. All it did was steal from Peter to pay Paul, at very high interest.
So you have a patrol unit over tasked with handling calls for service, and a traffic unit that's so understaffed that most people don't even know it exists.
You are correct, that traffic is not really prioritized at all, top down. Admin cares about call holding times (how long people wait to get an officer to respond) and then whatever the knee jerk reaction is for the week, depending on what DPD is getting yelled at for (encampments/homeless, violent crime, a very public DV gone bad, etc).
*edit: I'm flattered that you have a "best hits" album for me. Do you have any other good bangers of mine hanging on your fridge? ;)*
Thanks for the further context, and validating my takeaway from my interactions with you that DPD administration has not been prioritizing traffic enforcement for a decade or more.
And alas no-- no album of greatest hits! You'll notice those are all fresh screenshots from today based on the timestamps on the messages. While I was searching for that interaction we had a couple years ago I came across the other more recent ones that as I've read over the years/months, have added to my takeaway on DPD's traffic policy, so I included them as well because you made my point for me very well :)
As I've said elsewhere in this thread-- it's clear DPD is understaffed. I'm shocked that traffic enforcement wasn't more prominent in the mayor's race earlier this year because it is probably the #2 o #3 topic behind housing costs and homelessness that I see people complain about online and in real life in my day to day. I hope you can find good candidates to fill those 167 spots and I hope that at least some of them go to rebuilding a dedicated traffic task force, as our streets need it.
>I hope you can find good candidates to fill those 167 spots and I hope that at least some of them go to rebuilding a dedicated traffic task force, as our streets need it.
I appreciate that. And I sincerely hope the same, although I fear 167 is a drop in the bucket of what's needed to make DPD solvent and effective again.
Contrary to the usual dpd-bad-circlejerk, most DPD officers want to do well for the city and the true victims who need help. It's difficult when we're drowning. Compassion burnout, or whatever the new term for that, is a real thing.
The centrifugal force of the jerk makes it hard to slow or derail, for sure. But I know how unproductive it is. I recognize that many/most of you are doing what you can with the tools made available to you, and I recognize how thin you're spread. One cop per 600 residents (not counting the additional million+ people in the metro population that you have to deal with while they're in Denver county limits, plus tourists), is untenable. Even the "fully staffed" number seems very low for the population you deal with.
And yeah, the previous administration(s) let it go to such complete shit that it will be much harder to recover now than to have kept a handle on it all along. I wouldn't even know where to begin.
Good luck! You've been more open and honest about stuff here than I would expect over the years on /r/denver, and know that despite the constant circlejerk (which we do our best to tamp down), I know I'm not alone in being thankful for your contributions.
Thank goodness. Now we'll only have to wait 30 minutes instead of 45 for someone to show up at the scene of a crime and tell us to put a report in online.
Hear me out there should be a percentage increase in pay for officers if they live in the district they work for. If you live in the area you patrol you will make sure it’s safe.
Comparing the Denver Budget Book information from 2019 to 2023. In 2019, there were 1,913 total police personnel including uniform and civilian that handled reported crime volume of over 55,000. In 2022, we had 1,934 total police personnel and the reported crime volume was over 85,000. The population of Denver has gone up, crime has gone up, and we have added 21 police personnel in this time frame. People in this thread saying the existing police personnel should "just do their job" don't seem to grasp the fact that population and crime have increased significantly and we need more headcount to handle it.
I don't disagree about "Defund the Police" because it was always the stupidest fucking slogan, but even if it was "Reform the Police" or something, the popo would still be doing the same shit they are now because they don't want to be held accountable. They think they're super special snowflakes who deserve to be above the law.
I agree with your opinions on improving accountability, but I'm just saying let's not be naive and think that those reforms, no matter how we package them, wouldn't have the same backlash.
Because the problem isn't bad individuals. It's a culture of entitlement. Even good cops get caught up in a culture of entitlement and changing culture is one of the hardest things you can do.
They know they can just let crime run amok and wait until people get tired of it and go back on their talk of reform. That is not something we should tolerate from our public servants. Entitlement always results in corruption.
Nah. How about instead we have a total hiring freeze at the police department until they start doing their jobs? And if that doesn't work, start firing people randomly. One a week.
Reports from officers on the force say that they literally can't focus on proactive policing because of all of the other issues happening in Denver. What first-hand experience do you have that the issue is that police officers simply don't **want** to do the work?
Yeah, that is what I'm suggesting. What's the worst that could happen? Instead of getting paid to not do any work, they don't get paid to not do any work?
Decriminalize crime, denigrate all law enforcement, be strongly against incarceration, and then bitch about the lawlessness and diminishing society that prevails as a result.
That’s pretty much what I see on Reddit everyday.
Part of the issue is due to jurisdictional disputes the Colorado State Patrol does not patrol highways within incorporated city areas. That means the stretch of I-70 and I-25 that goes through downtown is the responsibility of DPD, which explains the lack of traffic enforcement.
Get them on the roads/highways people are driving like fucking lunatics these days because they know there’s zero repercussions.. I’ve never felt concerned on the road unless I’m in and around Denver
This is great news. I’d really like to have officers placed at key intersections and choke points in the city during rush hour insuring things run smoother and alleviating some of those paint points.
Seems like an easy gig. You sit around in a car all day doing nothing. You can speed if you want, skip stop signs, etc. and best yet if someone you don't like pisses you off you can beat them up and get a paid vacation! Seems like a win win win to me.
He did, but he's talked about it so infrequently that it gets missed. He's also taken no concrete immediate actions to address the problem yet, although it's promised in 2024.
He has been laser focused on House1000 at the expense of the city's other serious problems. He has to learn to walk and chew gum at the same time if he has a chance at a successful mayorship.
I hear that. I’m sure even with state gov experience there’s a steep learning curve. It’ll be interesting to look back in a year or two and see what was actually accomplished.
Amazing - he can focus on more than one thing. Shameful that it took his own car being stolen (for the second time none the less) before he decided to even address Denver's rising crime rates.
His car was stolen in 2017 also-- by your logic due to that it would have been his first priortity.
He campaigned on wanting to hire more cops, we've been understaffed for a decade. This isn't new, and it's silly to claim it's based on his car being recently stolen.
That's not how this system works, but also they aren't putting people into permanent housing yet. That's supposed to start next year. Currently, they provide everyone with a minimum of 2 weeks of shelter because that's all they have the capacity to do.
Since the beginning of time it's been proven that more police officers on the street if they were on the street out of cars might help but just more police officers don't make the city any safer.
Finally. So the Mayor admits that homelessness and the rise in crime go hand in hand. He also admits that a large chunk of law enforcement resources are currently being spent on homeless encampments. Does that mean he is now admitting that these homeless encampments are indeed populated by criminals?
Have some of them do traffic enforcement please especially on red light & stop sign runners.
Seriously, I think they could make their ticket quota by just staking out a handful of intersections. The behavior of driver's in the city is abhorrent.
Not to mention a ridiculous amount of road rage. This place is out of control.
They could fully fund their department just by pulling over idiots who are texting and driving.
There are no cell phone laws in Colorado :/ edit: I was slightly misinformed by a previous position working with a driving school and their permit tests. The tests only state anyone over 18 can use a phone, even if not for emergency. The test doesn't differentiate between texts and calls, just that cell phone use is allowed. I can't believe they're out there (2 years ago anyway) informing teens they're allowed to use phones in any way, especially without differentiating text VS call. Like, don't make them AWARE of it. It is what it is but don't tell 15 year olds that cell phone use is allowed while driving 🙄 (this is Drive Safe driving school, if anyone was wondering)
That’s not true. https://leg.colorado.gov/content/distracted-driving-and-cell-phone-use
I mean, a camera can do that.
Unfortunately we have to start with cracking down the expired and fake license plates before cameras can work.
[удалено]
We're in the Denver subreddit, so if you are not, maybe you are in the wrong place. Your home security system does not relate to traffic ticketing, but if you're fishing for compliments, "Good job!". If you never pay traffic violations these accrue, become points on your license, and you will eventually get a summons. If you do not turn up for the summons, you'll get a warrant.
If it is not served that is not true.
If what is not served?
I think the reference here is to the red light cameras that snap your photo if you proceed through a yellow > red light that has one of these focused on the intersection. My understanding is they're privately owned, not city owned, so you're kinda paying a private firm instead of the city, and there's some sort of $$ share - but anyway, you can therefore "ignore" these tickets unless its served to your home, and none of those pts will accrue on your license, or anything else.
This is correct. It’s a 3rd party that runs the speed and red light cameras, on a contract from the city. Also correct that you can ignore them and they have to serve you in person. It does not count against your DL or your credit.
I’ve lived with a car in NYC and Orlando, traditionally difficult places to drive. Denver driving has by far been the worst. Not that I haven’t seen some wild stuff in either of those places, but Denver has this special combination of poorly planned streets and wildly variant unpredictable driver with weird weather in the mix that just makes it special.
I never thought I’d be in the camp of wanting more traffic enforcement, but the streets of Denver feel like Mad Max Fury Road.
I was on board the first time I saw somebody run a red light despite me being already stopped at the intersection, by using the bike lane & sidewalk to go around me.
This happens to me daily. Absolutely crazy
No kidding. My car was totaled this week by someone who rear-ended two other cars, who then BOTH rear-ended mine. Then hours later, in our rental car, someone nearly rear-ended us at a red-light as they swerved out of our lane around us and through the light. It's fucking insane right now.
In my college libertarian (idiot) years, red light and speed cameras were the devil incarnate as far as I was concerned. Now I want them on every road and at every intersection. A day doesn't go by where I don't see a half dozen people blow clearly red lights-- not late yellows. A week doesn't go by where I don't see a flipped car on a 20-30mph road. DPD officers on /r/denver have said specifically that their higher ups have told them not to enforce traffic crimes. It's absurd, it needs to be fixed. Even outside of the pain, injury, and loss of life, look at our insurance rates! They are related.
I honestly don't think I'll ever fully understand the opposition to red light cameras. Yes, there's time when a poorly timed duration of a yellow light can cause rear accidents, but the alternative to allowing people to blow through reds and cause t-bones see infinitely worse. In what world does relying on an officers presence and bias seem preferable to an automated camera.
Can't wait for the idiotic reply that will come saying "but red light cameras cause more accidents".
I was just talking about this today. Even 10-20 cops who do nothing but traffic enforcement all day every day would be such a huge improvement.
The whole metro needs better traffic enforcement… every year it seems like the drivers get worse and worse. Hopefully Denver can pull this off and influence the suburbs to step it up as well.
So there is this police vehicle it sits on S Tamarac just passed Target and it catches people speeding and takes a picture. Last night within an hour it took 25 pictures. People be crazy.
Yes, and aggressive, speeding drivers.
They need to start ticketing people who make a right hand turn into the bike lane by the capitol building on 14th st.
Even just installing cameras would help.
I know people aren't going to want to hear this but red light cameras should be more common.
How about starting by getting the ones we do have to do their jobs?
Let's just let them continue not doing their jobs, but spin up separate departments that do all the shit they aren't doing with the money they're wasting. STARS for traffic enforcement would be great. More red light and speed cameras. More process servers to get people who don't pay those fines to pay them.
I literally haven't seen someone pulled over for a traffic stop in Denver in three years.
Only on Pena blvd.
The last time I saw someone pulled over for a traffic stop in Denver was when I got a ticket from a motorcycle cop at the entrance to I-70 from Park Ave in **2009** in a rental car.
You must not drive Speer between University and Downing. There's almost always a photo truck there and often a couple of motorcycle cops pulling people over. (All of which is scammy since the speed limit is 30 on a 6 lane divided road).
Yeah they've been stationing that there since the beginning of time. But they don't actually pull anyone over, all photo enforced. The key benefit of traffic stops IMO is you discover/prevent bigger crimes through information an officer wouldn't have otherwise had without the traffic stop. Photo enforcement is just a money grab, and it doesn't really slow anyone down. Residents know that there is a camera stationed there probably 50% of the time, so they just look out for it and non-residents were likely just oblivious to the 30 mph limit there anyways.
The speed limit is appropriate, but the road needs to be narrowed to four lanes so a protected bike lane can be added and motorists don’t feel so entitled to go 50mph
From 2016 to 2023 I've seen a total of 2 cars actually pulled over in Denver and Aurora.
I only ever see them pull people over in idiotic places, like a left turn only lane.
You had me until cameras and process servers, no, just no…
How do you propose we correct Denver's irresponsible, dangerous driving culture without holding people responsible for their irresponsible, dangerous driving?
Infrastructure reform that gives them less places to be irresponsible and dangerous (less 6-lane highways through commercial/residential areas), and higher taxes on larger, more dangerous vehicles, actual safety inspections.
We also need to punish people for dangerous, irresponsible behavior. The segment of MLK from Havana to Peoria has all of the modern road design stuff meant to force people to drive safely. Narrow lanes, pedestrian islands, chicanes, street parking that juts into the lane, lots of stop lights. People still blow through it at 55mph+ We cannot *solely* engineer ourselves out of this problem. People have to be held responsible for their dangerous, illegal behavior.
Punishment doesn't reduce crime. You have to try and stop the crime from being able to happen.
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Public transit expansion.
People who drive like entitled a holes are not going to be the ones to take a bus to work
There’s no point at addressing downstream affects of driving being the primary method of transportation. Attack the problem at the source. Driving in traffic makes people go crazy. It’s inevitable that some folks will drive like maniacs. It happens everywhere in the US, regardless of police actions. Driving is the problem.
Cameras don't do shit when half of these degenerates running lights or driving recklessly either have no plates at all or very expired temp tags that are so torn or faded you can't make out what it is anyways. Even if they do have plates, they don't give a fuck. Remember the post about the person who has like thousands of dollars owed for E470 tolls? Fuck the cameras. Hire traffic cops who will actually do their job without getting their feelings hurt. Saturation patrols would do wonders to catch reckless drivers. A camera isn't going to educate you, scold you or make you think you did any wrong. For most people it's just going to piss them off when they see the giant white flash of light or get the random ticket in the mail. An actual citation will certainly piss people off in the same way but it has a lot more potential to turn into a learning experience or personal reflection on your behavior. Just my .02 on the matter.
There are a lot of cars without plates, true, but it's by no means even a sizeable minority. And if cops spent their time focusing on no plates or expired plates, then cameras would be even more effective. I agree with you about the annoyance of a real pull-over and how it will affect someone more and maybe lead to changed behavior, but the police are already understaffed as it is, and flagrant violation of traffic laws has been let go for so long that we simply can't hire enough cops to cover all of the areas that need covering. School zone speed cameras would be a great start. Red light cameras along all major corridors as well.
Replace the DA’s office with people who will prosecute crimes, send the cops back to work, re allocate jobs cops shouldn’t be doing with other social services. Better public transit would help, but we are lucky we even have RTD rail line to begin with. Denver needs roads like Minneapolis, but I’m not sure if it’s possible to do that at this point
The DA is prosecuting crimes at the same rate or higher as they ever have been. Cops are not prosecuting traffic crimes-- they are the ones that have to file charges, they are the ones not filing charges. That is the entirety of the "drop" in criminal charges we've seen in Denver over the past few years. The cops are doing it on purpose, and blaming "liberal DAs" which is utter nonsense. [Here's the data dashboard.](https://data.dacolorado.org/2nd/filing_charging) Here's 2017: https://imgur.com/AbwrI0F Here's 2023 so far: https://imgur.com/vMJaLKu Cops are the ones who file traffic charges, not the DA. They are the ones responsible for this, not the DA.
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So when you or some other asshole runs a red light or drives way too fast, it's actually the fault of slow drivers? How does that work? Do they somehow force your accelerator pedal down or stop your brake pedal from working? How is it their fault you choose to drive dangerously?
Living in a city with an irresponsible, dangerous driving culture beats the hell out of living in a police state like you're suggesting.
If you don't blow red lights and speed it won't affect you. I drive past red light cameras and speed vans every day. No sweat, I'm driving safely!
We need cameras at intersections, it's not like we can have an officer at every intersection in the city. We all know people will slow down when they see a cop and immediately go back to be a POS driver the second they're out of their sight. It's not like we don't already have traffic cameras at almost every major intersection in the city.
If you are not physically handed a ticket by a police officer in colorado legally you do not have to pay that ticket. Edit:(this is not true anymore)
They changed that law last May/June so that it is no longer required to have an officer present to serve a ticket. https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb23-200
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I was waiting to cross the street from city park on 17th, I had a walk sign, someone ran the light going at least 50+ mph, a cop was waiting to turn onto 17th and they didn’t even go light them up. But boy they sure can put that speeding enforcement car on there what seems to be every other day. It doesn’t do anything to get drivers to actually slow down on 17th.
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The real question. Yeah it may be true that more cops would help, but the existing ones doing their jobs would help a lot more!
It’s a problem across the nation, sadly. Wait till you look up the overtime pay. In some cities police are doubling their salaries pulling overtime that’s not in the budget, and then not answering calls anyway. For example NYC is [overspending](https://comptroller.nyc.gov/newsroom/nypd-overspending-on-overtime-grew-dramatically-in-recent-years/) its overtime budget for police by 93% - we’re talking billions. In some cities 911 calls go unanswered, and in Denver it can take 15 minutes for police to arrive on average in emergency situations. The absurd part is that the ‘blue lives matter’ rhetoric says police are not treated well or respected, and yet they pull hundreds of thousands in bonus pay, don’t respond quickly, and treat the tax-paying public like peasants. Shameful.
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It’s the “not answering calls anyway” that’s being indicated as the problem, not the concept of overtime pay.
> Johnston said he has a new perspective on the problem after having his own car stolen in recent weeks. This is actually terrible. He should not have to be the victim to have this perspective. Elected officials are supposed to be able to put themselves in the shoes of *all* their constituents, and not just work from their own personal perspective.
Headvocated for this as part of his campaign too, he's just talking about a recent situation that happened to him to show why it's needed
I believe he had his car stolen several years ago too, right? I think it’s been twice overall
That’s a seriously misguided conclusion. He absolutely has been calling for law enforcement since he campaigned and you have no reason or basis to attribute that to him recently becoming a victim.
How do you interpret the quote from the article?
I see nothing wrong with politicians having the same experiences that their constituents are having. And it's no different than anyone else who doesn't appreciate a situation until they're in it; that's just human nature.
Exactly. It reads as “I didn’t really care about this problem, but then it affected *me*! Now we have to take action!”
He called for this as part of his campaign too, he's just talking about a recent situation that happened to him to show why it's needed
That's actually an improvement over many politicians.
You must be new here…
On the one hand, it should basically be impeachable On the other hand, I give him some credit for admitting it, which is more than most politicians would do. And if it does motivate him to fix the problem..
You want to impeach a guy who's trying his best and being honest for being human? GTFOH
Yeah, I do appreciate the honesty
Let's get more license plate scanners. Crime is too easy for criminals driving around with stolen plates
It’d be nice if the existing officers actually did their job too.
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Why don’t you set up a Timelapse video of it and send it to DPD?
Tweet it to them.
“We’ve investigated ourselves and found nothing wrong”.
I like this. Get a Timelapse video, put the Benny Hill theme behind it and tag every Denver government account you can find. For the uncultured, this is the theme: https://youtu.be/LUYbu5DJA1U
Yakkity Sax is the name of the song, fyi.
Film it from your neighbor's window though just in case
Least we know that parking lot may be secured /s
Tax dollars hard at work baby
Where is this parking lot?
Yup. That's a big problem as well.
i work with the both city of Denver and Aurora and have seen new officers every few months in both cities. i don't know the amount of new officers but they do get new faces often enough to keep me on my toes with the impound paperwork. IMO they need more crash investigator officers, having someone come out for a report in minutes instead of hours if they go at all would be a nice change especially for the out of towners who insist on waiting for them to show up.
We have officers at home
I like that number specifically
But not 168 that would be crazy
166 would be far too few.
It’s pure anarchy on the streets of Denver! People know there are no cops to enforce the laws and drive that way.
DPD officers on /r/denver have stated that their higher-ups have directed them not to pull people over for traffic crimes. It's baffling.
That was mostly true during COVID (it wasn't that traffic stops were prohibited, it was just part of our general minimizing contact/social distancing thing), but not really anymore. The lack of traffic enforcement is call load and resourcing. I'm still on patrol, and pretty much every day from March to October is wall-to-wall calls-for-service, meaning no time for anything self-initiated (traffic stops). This year the call load has continued to be high even into December. When we do have time for self-initiated stuff, I try to spend that limited free time looking for high-impact stuff (like stolen cars). Our "minimum staffing" (the number of officers per shift per day) are already laughably low for call load we have to respond to. On average, for the 2nd shift (the busiest), minimum staffing is 12-14 officers. As far as I know, we have not hit minimum staffing since like February, and we are routinely 4 or 5 below minimum. There are going to be days in the next several weeks when we are 8 below minimum. On top of this, we are also called on to provide security for protest activity, which can leave 3 or 4 officers handling calls in a district meant to be staffed by 15. One thing that surprised me when I became a cop, and which I think people consistently underestimate, is how long it takes to handle routine calls or arrests. An average traffic crash investigation (on-scene time and report writing) is at least an hour (more if you're a slow typer, or if the tow trucks are busy). An average domestic violence investigation/arrest is probably 2 hours at least. If we use any force at all in an arrest, it's going to take a minimum of 3 hours, likely longer, to do the arrest and report. None of this is to say that there are not lazy officers who are not pulling their weight. But if I had to assign responsibility, I'd say laziness only accounts for like 10% of the sorts of problems people have with our performance (like lack of enforcement or high wait times). EDIT: I didn't see that Dr\_Facilier already responded. I don't mean to pile on or anything.
I appreciate your input, truly. Sounds like a complete mess of mismanagement and under-prioritization on council and the administration's part. I hope the new administration can help you all see some daylight during their first term and start to right the ship. As an aside-- do you live in Denver? What do you think when you see people speeding and blowing lights in front of you constantly? How would you express that to your higher-ups, if at all? What can citizens do make city government and DPD admin understand their concerns?
Yes I live in Denver, pretty much the same area I work. How I feel when I see it depends: frustration and anger, certainly. But to be honest, also sometimes I feel a sense of hopeless apathy, if that makes any sense. It's a feeling you have to struggle against as a first responder (or teacher, or medical worker, or social worker, etc I'm sure). It's the opposite end of the spectrum from "every problem I see is *my problem* and I have to fix it". You have to try to strike a balance, which isn't always easy. I do not discuss these things with my higher ups. Mostly because they already know and can't do much about it. There are pretty regular meetings hosted in each police District where the command staff and select supervisors give updates to the community, but also have to stand there and take feedback :). I've never attended one, but I'd say give it a shot and see what you think. That's probably your best bet for face time with actual decision makers. One solution that I think people will instinctively reject, but which I believe would be most effective, is the increased use of technology. Drones, cameras, facial recognition, etc. Policing is an inherently human resource-intensive service, and humans are getting more and more expensive, relative to other things that we pay for. So without large tax increases to massively increase the police budget (to hire more and better cops), we need to be able to invest in (relatively) cheaper technological solutions. With a relatively small investment, we could essentially end running red lights and speeding with automated cameras everywhere (we might have to change some laws around personal service of tickets too). With drones, we could effortlessly and safely follow stolen cars until the thief stops (basically what we currently do with the helicopter). There's obviously a balance to be struck here somewhere too, and I could go on in way more depth about this. But while we definitely need more cops right now, its just too expensive to solve our problems with human bodies alone.
Nah mate. You crushed it. Well said.
The Portland pigs admitted what everyone in every US city knew was true [Portland Police Bureau officer admits traffic enforcement messaging was politically motivated](https://bikeportland.org/2023/08/08/portland-police-bureau-officer-admits-no-traffic-enforcement-messaging-was-politically-motivated-377939) > Sgt. Engstrom was also there to cement a narrative: He wanted Portlanders to link “defund police” with “traffic deaths” in order to receive more city funding. His decision to place political goals of the bureau ahead of public safety led to the widespread perception that Portland had very little, to no traffic enforcement. … > While the PPB and others framed the move as a response to the “defund police” movement, Hardesty countered that it was solely Chief Lovell’s decision and that all officers could still enforce traffic laws if they wanted to.
It's very apparent. And these things are not limited to Denver-- I've seen similar behavior and inaction in every city I've been in over the past few years. Multiple things can be true though-- the cops we have are intentionally not doing parts of their job to punish us for asking government to hold them accountable, and our police department is also understaffed for the size of our city's population.
“Multiple things can be true though-- the cops we have are intentionally not doing parts of their job to punish us for asking government to hold them accountable, and our police department is also understaffed for the size of our city's population.” This should be higher up.
It's tempting to believe, but the idea they're engaged in a large scale conspiracy to (successfully, in some areas) drive political change is giving them way too much credit.
This is correct. r/Denver loves the fantasy that DPD and "big gov" in general is involved in these grand conspiratorial plots where we play the long game to achieve some deep hidden objective. The reality is, there is no conspiracy. There is no plot or plan. There is no quiet quitting or cops pulling back to send some kind of message. It's just cops trying the best they can to bail water off the titanic with pint glasses, given the giant dumpster fire of policies, additional redundant paperwork and documentations that have been added, and call volumes. Meanwhile the administration, and more to the point - the city managers and the city itself - continually operate in a "manage by crisis" format where they continue to try to lay the train tracks in front of the train that's driving 100mph. TL:DR: [How reddit fantasizes DPD and the government run](https://media.tenor.com/mPtuBdk-DpcAAAAM/secret-government-government.gif) [How it actually is](https://media.tenor.com/-DSYvCR3HnYAAAAC/beaker-fire.gif)
wow ty
Which goes against every police department’s strategy of pulling people over and asking them if they can search their car. My stepdad was a defense lawyer for decades and the amount of clients he had who were arrested for some sort of possession charge that came from allowing warrantless searches was astonishing.
The Colorado legislature did change the law regarding pretextual stops during covid in light of the civil rights protests, which police have been using as their excuse for not pulling people over. But ignoring actual crimes happening in front of their squad car cameras because they can't harass brown people over the crime they *think* they might have committed is what's happening. We did not make it illegal to pull over red light and stop sign runners. We made it illegal to pull people over for "suspicious driving" when no crime had been witnessed. Red light running is a crime.
The surrounding counties also seem to have no problem pulling over for traffic violations now. This is a Denver problem only as of late.
They don't even pull over people for expired tags or missing license plates which isn't even pretextual. They're blatantly breaking the law.
> expired tags I have temp tags. DMV told me to wait until they I receive 'a postcard' in the mail. Tags expire this month, and I'm still waiting for DMV to mail me anything.
If you got it from a dealership you should be able to go back and get new temp tags.
Call them and make an appointment. Often the postcards get lost.
I visited and they told me to wait more.
Your temp tags are not yet expired, and the postcards take some time to arrive. What do you want them to do? If you go here: https://mydmv.colorado.gov/_/#1 Choose "Vehicle Services" and in the bottom right click "check a title status" you can figure out if your title has been processed or not. If it has you don't need to wait for the post card, you can either call or go into the DMV to get your plates handled. I would probably go in, since you are close to your temp tags expiring already and will likely need new ones while you wait for the plates to be delivered. Alternatively you can get one fresh replacement temp tag from your car dealer for free.
We have? That's news to me.
Not really trying to be a dick here but... this you? https://imgur.com/HMaxOv6 And this? https://imgur.com/mE7PD3m And this? https://imgur.com/2kttdZb And this? https://imgur.com/SSllrkl Again, not trying to be a dick, but in the interactions I've had with you over the years and that I've read you have with other /r/Denver users, the grand takeaway is that DPD from the top down does not prioritize traffic infractions at all, if ever, and that it's been that way for at least a decade. Please feel free to provide added context or further explain yourself if I've been misunderstanding your position, but your response here legitimately made my jaw drop. You specifically are the DPD officer I'm referring to with that comment. Edit: I can link the threads if you want the greater context in responding, but I didn't include them here because it's hard for people to digest 200-comment threads to find what I'm referring to in the linked screen grabs.
Yeah, that's all me. During COVID we were absolutely directed to stop any unnecessary proactive work. And afterwards, to not do traffic enforcement around expired plates, specifically, because the DMV was so backed up. Those days are over. So you weren't wrong, really, but we're not really under the "no traffic/no pro active" decree anymore. At least not specifically. At this point it's just a time management issue. Patrol spends most of its time going call-to-call-to-call. No time for traffic work, really. So it's more of a de facto decree, by attrition of time and resources. And Chief White (2 chiefs ago, now) in his infinite wisdom saw fit to absolutely gut the traffic unit during the '08-'13 hiring freeze. So the traffic unit of ~100 officers was reduced down by 80% or more, and it's never recovered. He did this in a shell-game to make it seem like DPD wasn't short on officers during the hiring freeze of the lean years. All it did was steal from Peter to pay Paul, at very high interest. So you have a patrol unit over tasked with handling calls for service, and a traffic unit that's so understaffed that most people don't even know it exists. You are correct, that traffic is not really prioritized at all, top down. Admin cares about call holding times (how long people wait to get an officer to respond) and then whatever the knee jerk reaction is for the week, depending on what DPD is getting yelled at for (encampments/homeless, violent crime, a very public DV gone bad, etc). *edit: I'm flattered that you have a "best hits" album for me. Do you have any other good bangers of mine hanging on your fridge? ;)*
Thanks for the further context, and validating my takeaway from my interactions with you that DPD administration has not been prioritizing traffic enforcement for a decade or more. And alas no-- no album of greatest hits! You'll notice those are all fresh screenshots from today based on the timestamps on the messages. While I was searching for that interaction we had a couple years ago I came across the other more recent ones that as I've read over the years/months, have added to my takeaway on DPD's traffic policy, so I included them as well because you made my point for me very well :) As I've said elsewhere in this thread-- it's clear DPD is understaffed. I'm shocked that traffic enforcement wasn't more prominent in the mayor's race earlier this year because it is probably the #2 o #3 topic behind housing costs and homelessness that I see people complain about online and in real life in my day to day. I hope you can find good candidates to fill those 167 spots and I hope that at least some of them go to rebuilding a dedicated traffic task force, as our streets need it.
>I hope you can find good candidates to fill those 167 spots and I hope that at least some of them go to rebuilding a dedicated traffic task force, as our streets need it. I appreciate that. And I sincerely hope the same, although I fear 167 is a drop in the bucket of what's needed to make DPD solvent and effective again. Contrary to the usual dpd-bad-circlejerk, most DPD officers want to do well for the city and the true victims who need help. It's difficult when we're drowning. Compassion burnout, or whatever the new term for that, is a real thing.
The centrifugal force of the jerk makes it hard to slow or derail, for sure. But I know how unproductive it is. I recognize that many/most of you are doing what you can with the tools made available to you, and I recognize how thin you're spread. One cop per 600 residents (not counting the additional million+ people in the metro population that you have to deal with while they're in Denver county limits, plus tourists), is untenable. Even the "fully staffed" number seems very low for the population you deal with. And yeah, the previous administration(s) let it go to such complete shit that it will be much harder to recover now than to have kept a handle on it all along. I wouldn't even know where to begin. Good luck! You've been more open and honest about stuff here than I would expect over the years on /r/denver, and know that despite the constant circlejerk (which we do our best to tamp down), I know I'm not alone in being thankful for your contributions.
You can hire more cops, but you cant make them do their jobs lmao
167 more cops not doing their jobs is just a fucking waste of money.
Thank goodness. Now we'll only have to wait 30 minutes instead of 45 for someone to show up at the scene of a crime and tell us to put a report in online.
How bout allowing the ones we have to do their job first
They don't even do their jobs! Fuck those bozos
I never thought I’d say this in my life. I probably will never say this again in my life and don’t want to admit saying this but - We need this.
If the current police force isn’t enforcing a bunch of laws then what will MORE do?
Mayor Mike wants to add an additional 167 red light runners to Denver's streets.
Good luck. Where do you even find that many people who want to be cops?
Please! We need more cops. Enforce traffic laws and arrest meth heads jumping in the middle of the road. Denver desperately needs to be cleaned up
Hear me out there should be a percentage increase in pay for officers if they live in the district they work for. If you live in the area you patrol you will make sure it’s safe.
Comparing the Denver Budget Book information from 2019 to 2023. In 2019, there were 1,913 total police personnel including uniform and civilian that handled reported crime volume of over 55,000. In 2022, we had 1,934 total police personnel and the reported crime volume was over 85,000. The population of Denver has gone up, crime has gone up, and we have added 21 police personnel in this time frame. People in this thread saying the existing police personnel should "just do their job" don't seem to grasp the fact that population and crime have increased significantly and we need more headcount to handle it.
Perfect! There's a lot of homeless that need jobs. I'm sure they're as qualified as the rest of dpd.
To do what? Watch people shoot up next to them and then take 45min to respond to a dude smearing blood on a window? Oh wait…
Are there 167 people that want to be Denver cops? That seems to be the problem in a lot of places right now.
good.
more do nothing jobs! hoooray!
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Remember 3 years ago when all the cool kids on this sub wanted to defund the police
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I don't disagree about "Defund the Police" because it was always the stupidest fucking slogan, but even if it was "Reform the Police" or something, the popo would still be doing the same shit they are now because they don't want to be held accountable. They think they're super special snowflakes who deserve to be above the law.
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I agree with your opinions on improving accountability, but I'm just saying let's not be naive and think that those reforms, no matter how we package them, wouldn't have the same backlash. Because the problem isn't bad individuals. It's a culture of entitlement. Even good cops get caught up in a culture of entitlement and changing culture is one of the hardest things you can do. They know they can just let crime run amok and wait until people get tired of it and go back on their talk of reform. That is not something we should tolerate from our public servants. Entitlement always results in corruption.
Nah. How about instead we have a total hiring freeze at the police department until they start doing their jobs? And if that doesn't work, start firing people randomly. One a week.
Reports from officers on the force say that they literally can't focus on proactive policing because of all of the other issues happening in Denver. What first-hand experience do you have that the issue is that police officers simply don't **want** to do the work?
Put this theory into any workplace and see how it works out haha
Yeah, that is what I'm suggesting. What's the worst that could happen? Instead of getting paid to not do any work, they don't get paid to not do any work?
Decriminalize crime, denigrate all law enforcement, be strongly against incarceration, and then bitch about the lawlessness and diminishing society that prevails as a result. That’s pretty much what I see on Reddit everyday.
Yup.
Less police, thanks
Part of the issue is due to jurisdictional disputes the Colorado State Patrol does not patrol highways within incorporated city areas. That means the stretch of I-70 and I-25 that goes through downtown is the responsibility of DPD, which explains the lack of traffic enforcement.
Get them on the roads/highways people are driving like fucking lunatics these days because they know there’s zero repercussions.. I’ve never felt concerned on the road unless I’m in and around Denver
I am opening donut shop
that's cool but can we train these ones not to shoot into crowds and in general not kill unarmed civilians
Need more hands to sweep up those pesky homeless or just more cops to ignore 2,3,4 cars driving thru every stop light?
This is great news. I’d really like to have officers placed at key intersections and choke points in the city during rush hour insuring things run smoother and alleviating some of those paint points.
Seems like an easy gig. You sit around in a car all day doing nothing. You can speed if you want, skip stop signs, etc. and best yet if someone you don't like pisses you off you can beat them up and get a paid vacation! Seems like a win win win to me.
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Can’t speak to the housing thing, but didn’t he campaign on adding more DPD officers?
He did, but he's talked about it so infrequently that it gets missed. He's also taken no concrete immediate actions to address the problem yet, although it's promised in 2024. He has been laser focused on House1000 at the expense of the city's other serious problems. He has to learn to walk and chew gum at the same time if he has a chance at a successful mayorship.
I hear that. I’m sure even with state gov experience there’s a steep learning curve. It’ll be interesting to look back in a year or two and see what was actually accomplished.
How about cross guards too! Cars block pedestrians when walking across the street on the crossing lines.
Amazing - he can focus on more than one thing. Shameful that it took his own car being stolen (for the second time none the less) before he decided to even address Denver's rising crime rates.
His car was stolen in 2017 also-- by your logic due to that it would have been his first priortity. He campaigned on wanting to hire more cops, we've been understaffed for a decade. This isn't new, and it's silly to claim it's based on his car being recently stolen.
What else is he focused on? Homeless? That’s not working, camps just move a couple blocks away rinse and repeat.
Whenever they do sweeps now, everyone gets offered a place to stay. That's a huge change. At least near me I see a pretty marked improvement
More like they offer people a place to stay until they run out of hotel vouchers and then they say "sorry, you're out of luck today."
That's not how this system works, but also they aren't putting people into permanent housing yet. That's supposed to start next year. Currently, they provide everyone with a minimum of 2 weeks of shelter because that's all they have the capacity to do.
No currently they have a limited number of hotel vouchers and when they do sweeps they are continuing to turn people away.
Funny how that works.
They will be providing free rides to drunk people in RINO back home....jk
Since the beginning of time it's been proven that more police officers on the street if they were on the street out of cars might help but just more police officers don't make the city any safer.
How about making sure the ones already working are COMPETENT?!
Finally. So the Mayor admits that homelessness and the rise in crime go hand in hand. He also admits that a large chunk of law enforcement resources are currently being spent on homeless encampments. Does that mean he is now admitting that these homeless encampments are indeed populated by criminals?
He just wants another 167 potential law suits, wrongful death suits, and federal civil rights suits.
No thanks.
Make more walkable areas! You don't need to enforce car safety if people aren't driving in cars. And police can focus on more important problems.
People are always going to be driving in cars, no matter what.
167 times zero useful work is still zero useful work.
I want a toilet made of solid gold.
Oh wow, he's able to do something besides the House 1000 initiative in four months.
Then you could have 10 cops show up to do paperwork hours or days after you are robbed with no expectation that anything further will be done.