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 the new "Trust Patrols" program with two goals: developing trust in the community and improving relationships to reduce crime, 9 News reports. "We know that the best way to stop crime is to prevent it, and the best way to prevent crime is to build trust," Johnston said. He called it an opportunity for officers to get out of the patrol car and walk into a business or public place. Officers should be able to find out what's working, what's not and what can be done better. The 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," said police commander Jacob Herrera. Right now, only specific officers 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," Herrera said. The department is asking for businesses to sign up to become trust partners, so that officers will stop by for about 15 minutes to hear from owners and employees about challenges with crime and safety concerns. "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," Herrera said. He hopes the program will help officers with their mental health with positive interactions rather than negative ones like those involving crime scenes.
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