Author: Janna Goodwin

Every third Thursday, District 6 Commander Aaron Sanchez and officers hold a community meeting at the District 6 station on Washington Street just north of Colfax. All community members are invited. Meetings are posted on NextDoor, and with 3 days’ notice, an ASL interpreter can be present. The meetings are at 10:00 a.m., but recently the Commander has begun to alternate times: every other month, there’s an evening convening instead. You can contact one of the two community officers, Officer Gillian  Teresa.Gillian@denvergov.org (720) 913-2908 or Officer Munson Austen.Munson@denvergov.org  (720) 913-2906 for more information. Package thefts are up, way up. With Amazon Prime delivering stuff to our doorsteps, the likelihood of that stuff being stolen increases. Do what you can to minimize the visibility of packages on your doorstep or to have the packages delivered to you at work or when you are home. Track your packages so you know when they are coming. Install a camera. Sign up for Key by Amazon: those are a few ways to make theft less likely, but those of course won’t work for everybody. Neighborhood Watch is another way: get everyone’s active eyes on the activity in the neighborhood. Consider forming a Neighborhood Watch on your block. Homelessness and related concerns: Sgt. Brian Conover is the supervisor of the Homeless Outreach Team. They have two teams active, one day and one night. Their primary role is outreach. It is more difficult, without the camping ban, to approach and connect with people living outdoors: the ban gives police a reason to approach and to find out if they can get people help, services, etc. Living outdoors on the streets in the city is bad for everybody, and the DPD is committed to trying to get folks situated in the safest indoor places they can. Citations are rare and are a last resort (emphatically so, and repeated: a last resort). There are usually 100-150 available beds in Denver at any time. Not everyone wants to use them: shelters feel unsafe, other options are limited (although in some cases, motel rooms are provided) and not everyone wants to be indoors. The police work closely with a number of organizations to do outreach, needle cleanup, connection with services, etc. Protests: With divisive discourses abounding, the impeachment and the upcoming elections,  this coming year is expected to be a doozy for protests, and the DPD are prepared. Mounted patrol: the Mounted Patrol are looking for events where community members, especially kids, can get to know them and the horses. Contact one of the Community Officers for our district, Teresa Gillian (720) 913-2908 or Austen Munson (720) 913-2906.    

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Every third Thursday, District 6 Commander Aaron Sanchez and officers hold a community meeting at the District 6 station on Washington Street just north of Colfax. All community members are invited. Meetings are posted on NextDoor, and with 3 days’ notice, an ASL interpreter can be present. The meetings are at 10:00 a.m., but recently the Commander has begun to alternate times: every other month, there’s an evening convening instead. You can contact one of the two community officers, Officer Gillian  Teresa.Gillian@denvergov.org (720) 913-2908 or Officer Munson Austen.Munson@denvergov.org  (720) 913-2906 for more information. Read with a student who needs your help! DPD District 6 participates in the Reading Partners program, and encourages neighbors to do the same. In its 2018-2019 Regional Impact Report, Reading Partners provide the statistics: 800 students served by 1,023 community tutors… 80% of Reading Partner students meet or exceed their end-of-year literacy goals… and 86% develop mastery of key foundational reading skills to read at grade level. Community volunteers for this program volunteer one hour a week to read with a child. Flexible weekday volunteer times are available. No formal teaching experience is required.  A flexible, easy-to-follow curriculum is provided. To volunteer, contact volunteerCO@readingpartners.org, or (720) 409-9909. Bike thefts  The best way to address bike theft is to prevent it yourself, and to prepare it to be more easily identified if it IS stolen: Store you bike indoors, in a locked place. When securing it outside, use a quality lock and include the frame and front wheel (cable locks are easily cut). Lock your bike to a secure structure. Register your bike online at www.denvergov.org/police– in case it gets stolen in spite of your efforts. Registered bikes are way more likely to get identified and returned. Include owner identification somewhere ON the bike: a business card or phone number pushed inside the seat tube, for example. Keep the bike’s serial number and a photo of the bike. Frustrated that this doesn’t address the groups of people we see all over the neighborhood with dis-assembled bike parts? Police will do their best to recover bikes, but approaching people and their bike parts with no evidence of crime having been committed (and often no way to prove a theft) is not something they do– or at least, that was the clearest response this reporter was able to get. Neighborhood Watch: The DPD wants District 6 community members to start Neighborhood Watch programs. Contact the community officers noted above, Officer Gillian or Munson, if you can get together a group of residents from your block to sit down for a 45-minute meeting and learn how to create this partnership.        

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