Parker educates citizens through police academy

800 have taken part

BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

e Parker Police Department’s Citizens Academy is more than showing residents what police ofcers do. e academy takes a dive into every aspect of the law enforcement agency and allows residents to give feedback.

“It’s been like opening the doors so you can kind of see behind the curtains on how this all works,” said Commander Chris Peters. “Getting feedback is the essence of the citizens academy.” e program focuses on criminal law, mounted patrol, evidence, dispatch, tra c laws, DUI laws, accident reconstruction, K-9’s, and youth education programs. ere is also an optional opportunity to go to doesn’t make sense,” state Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat, said in a news release. She added: “A stolen car represents much more than stolen property — it impacts people’s ability to get to work, shop for groceries and live their daily lives.”

With 40 people participating per session, the Parker Citizens Academy has had nearly 800 graduate from the 15-week program.

One night a week, participants hear from police o cers and those who work in the crime scene unit, dispatch sta and victims advocates.

When residents have questions or concerns about how the department is doing something, Peters said instructors should be charged with taking those comments back to those divisions or sections.

“For us to be legitimate in Parker, we need to do what Parker wants us to do,” said Peters.

If state Senate Bill 23-097 passes, the penalties for auto theft would no longer be based on the value of the vehicle stolen. e proposal would make most auto theft a felony regardless of the vehicle’s value.

Some portion of what would be misdemeanors — on the low end of stolen vehicle value — would then be treated as felonies, but Weekly said he had not seen speci cs on what percentage of thefts would be classi ed di erently.

Arapahoe County Sheri Tyler Brown also did not know. But Brown, another supporter of the bill, highlighted another change he says would strengthen accountability.

“We’re seeing a lot of people in stolen cars saying, ‘Oh, I just bor- rowed this car from so and so — I didn’t know it was stolen,’” Brown said.

If the vehicle is in a situation that would make a “reasonable person” likely to know it was stolen, the bill makes it easier for authorities to charge that person, Brown said.

Pasko argued the bill doesn’t address the “front end” of why people are stealing cars.

A web of influences

Pasko, who wrote a commentary on recent media coverage of the increase in Colorado’s crime rates, pointed to a range of factors that can in uence crime.

“As we have long known, increase in crime is tied with housing insecurity, drug misuse and abuse, gun sales, unemployment and joblessness, mental health struggles, family disruption and violence, as well as fewer youth in school, (and) lower consumer con dence,” Pasko wrote.

Many people are stealing cars to live in them, a problem that could re ect how una ordable the Denver area is to live in, she told Colorado Community Media.

“We see evidence of living in (stolen cars) including drug use. We also see the drug of choice here is meth,” Pasko said.

Sometimes there are habitual o enders, Pasko said, “but they are not the ones accounting for thousands and thousands of car thefts. It’s just not possible.”

Weekly spoke to the pattern of repeat o enders in his jurisdiction in Douglas County.

“ ey’re out on bond very quickly, and they’re going out and committing auto theft again,” Weekly said.

Pasko pointed to other historical periods in the 1970s, `80s and `90s in evaluating crime policies.

“We’ve done this same thing, which is increase penalties, increase jail time and increase incarceration, and it’s never given us the results we want,” Pasko said.

She added: “We need police, jails, and prison, for sure. But we need more front-end services too, to avoid crime in the rst place.”

Mental health needs

Brown, a Democrat, pointed to the need for those kinds of services, noting the lack of “community bedspace” for people going through mental health crisis and the lack of mental health clinicians to help with those situations.

“People that are struggling with mental health don’t have the resources they need, and then there’s certain times — and it’s not all the time — but there are certain times when they’re self-medicating and they’re involved in these activities that can fall into the categories that we’re talking about,” said Brown, who noted the problem of people getting involved in the “illicit drug trade.” e Douglas County jail has a “very robust” drug treatment program, Weekly said.

It’s important to expose people to programs for recovery, Brown said. Weekly, a Republican, pointed to programs in the Douglas County jail.

“I do think that obviously the drug issues play a big factor into (crime), mental health issues play a big factor into this. But at the end of the day, they can get drug treatment quite frankly in a detention setting. ey can get mental health treatment in a detention setting,” Weekly said.

“We don’t just put people in jail and let them languish — not in my jail. ere’s a lot of programs that can help them get back on their feet and live a productive life,” he added.

He felt a harsher approach in criminal penalties is necessary to get people o a criminal path.

“My perspective is at the end of the day, people are responsible for their actions,” Weekly said.

Another part of the solution to addressing crime could be adding more o cers in the right places, according to Pasko, which can be di cult amid police experiencing hiring issues.

“Denver did hot spot policing with positive results in the past few years. Instead of patrol broadly in high-crime areas, really zone in on the hot spots, including some problem-oriented approaches,” Pasko said.

Weekly agreed that putting more o cers on patrol is critical.

“ at is one of my goals as sheri ,” Weekly said. “I am putting more deputies and marked cars on the street. at’s what I’m focusing on is the fundamentals.” e proposed legislation also includes a “joy-ride” provision that would make it a misdemeanor to use a vehicle without the owner’s permission as long as the car is returned within 24 hours without damage and only minor trafc o enses were committed, e Colorado Sun reported. A second and subsequent conviction for the joy-ride o ense would be a felony, however.