%1 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/ en The Denver Police Department, 1859–1933 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver-police-department-1859-1933 <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">The Denver Police Department, 1859–1933</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2021-01-25T15:34:17-07:00" title="Monday, January 25, 2021 - 15:34" class="datetime">Mon, 01/25/2021 - 15:34</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver-police-department-1859-1933" data-a2a-title="The Denver Police Department, 1859–1933"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fdenver-police-department-1859-1933&amp;title=The%20Denver%20Police%20Department%2C%201859%E2%80%931933"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>The Denver Police Department was formed in 1859 to bring order to a rowdy, dusty mining camp. The department grew up with the city and with broader trends in American policing. Denver Police spent most of the late nineteenth century focused on drunks, gamblers, thieves, and prostitutes. Later, a more professionalized police force developed during the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/progressive-era-colorado"><strong>Progressive Era</strong></a> (1900–20), and the increase in police power during <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/prohibition"><strong>alcohol prohibition</strong></a> (1916–33) formed the basis for a <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver-police-department-1933"><strong>modern Denver Police Department</strong></a> that increasingly functioned as an apparatus of social control as well as capturing criminals.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Origins of American Policing</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Boston formed the nation’s first public police department in 1838. Between then and Denver’s founding in 1858, many American cities developed public police forces distinct from the night watches or constable systems that preceded them. In the north, the need for public police grew with industrializing cities and was especially influenced by perceptions of new immigrant populations, including the Irish and Germans. In the south, police departments had their origins in slave patrols that dated back to the early eighteenth century. In both regions, the formation of police stemmed more from a need to control populations that elites saw as disorderly than from a need to control crime in general.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Controlling Rowdy Denver</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In this context, public police were seen as a necessity for maintaining order in towns that sprang up in freshly colonized Western territories. During the chaotic <a href="https://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-gold-rush"><strong>Colorado Gold Rush</strong></a> of 1858–59, thousands of white immigrants streamed into the area that became <a href="/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a>. Saloons, brothels, and gambling dens riddled the fledgling city; brawls and shootouts were common, and gamblers won and lost entire blocks of the early town in card games. As in many of the earliest white settlements in the West, vigilantes and <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/lynching-colorado"><strong>lynch mobs</strong></a> carried out “frontier justice” before the arrival of governments, police, and courts.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>When Denver was chartered in 1859, its first leaders sought to get a handle on the rough-and-tumble settlement. They commissioned Wilson E. “Bill” Sisty as a marshal—the city’s first law enforcement officer—for the joint settlements of Denver, <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/auraria-west-denver"><strong>Auraria</strong></a>, and Highland. One of Sisty’s first jobs was to punish Denver’s first official murderer, John Stoeffel, who had shot his brother-in-law over a bag of gold dust (such crimes were common in early Denver). Sisty carried out Stoeffel’s sentence—death by hanging. After five months on the job, Sisty abruptly resigned for reasons unknown.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>1860s–70s: A “well regulated and judicious police system”</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>While the marshals did Denver’s first police work, the new city’s charter gave the city council power “to establish, regulate and support night-watch and police, and define the powers and duties of the same.” In January 1860, inaugural mayor <strong>J. C. Moore</strong> directed the new city council to establish a “well regulated and judicious police system.” That year, P. P. Wilcox was elected the city’s first police magistrate, a role similar to today’s police chief. In 1862 the city hired George E. Thornton as its first police chief, and the force got its trademark star badges two years later.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The first Denver Police headquarters was on Market Street near Fifteenth Street, a location chosen on account of its proximity to many brothels, gambling dens, and other common sites of criminal activity. In its early years, the Denver Police were largely concerned with thieves, drunks, street violence, and prostitutes (the city passed prostitution ordinances in the 1860s and 1870s, stepped up its red-light enforcement in the 1880s, and eventually banned the sex trade outright in 1913).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1873 Denver remodeled its police department along the lines of New York City’s, giving its officers standard badges and uniforms. By 1874 the department had thirteen officers, all of whom were listed in the <em>Denver Daily Times</em>. Operating out of a new headquarters at 1517 Lawrence Street, the force was split between day and night shifts.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>1880s: Standardization and Growth</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Colorado joined the Union in 1876, and the state’s reinvigorated mining industry made Denver into a booming city during the 1880s. By 1881 the police department had grown to “fifteen regulars and eleven specials,” in addition to the chief and a sergeant, patrolling a city of more than 35,000. This included the city’s first black police officer, <strong>Isaac Brown</strong>, hired in April 1880. The department was now operating more like its contemporaries across the nation, conducting investigations, raiding brothels and opium dens (its first racially targeted anti-vice activity), and making thousands of arrests per year. On May 5, 1881, the police department held its first annual ball, a popular and much-anticipated event in many cities.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>While they often harassed the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver%E2%80%99s-chinatown"><strong>Chinese community</strong></a> for its opium use, the Denver Police were instrumental in protecting Chinese from <strong>a white riot</strong> on October 31, 1880. Riding a wave of anti-Chinese <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/populism-colorado"><strong>populism</strong></a> that swept the West at the time, a huge mob of white Denverites descended on Chinatown, burning buildings, smashing goods and property, and beating up Chinese citizens, including one who died from his wounds. That day, Mayor <strong>Richard Sopris</strong> made an emergency appointment of <strong>Dave Cook</strong>, the city marshal, as Denver Police chief. Cook’s officers, along with hundreds of emergency-deputized citizens, eventually drove the white mob out of Chinatown.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The next year, one of the earliest accusations of brutality against the department came in an anonymous letter to the <em>Great West </em>newspaper. Denver officer Jim Connors allegedly “jerked” local farmer John Wolff out of his wagon, “pounded him on the ground, took his valuables,” and then “broke Wolff’s nose with his club”—all because Wolff apparently “did not start his team from a watering place quite quick enough.” Wolff was later released and had his valuables returned, but the letter opined that “the policeman deserves to be made to pay a heavy fine, and to serve a term in prison.”</p>&#13; &#13; <p>In 1886, with the city’s population fast approaching 100,000, the Denver Police started using patrol wagons for multiple suspects and installed a system of call boxes so officers could be more quickly dispatched across the city. As raids on brothels increased during the decade, the department hired its first matron, <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/sadie-likens"><strong>Sadie Likens</strong></a>, in 1888 to look after female prisoners.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>1900–20: Corruption, Consolidation, and Crackdowns</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>The Denver Police became known for violence and corruption under chief Michael A. Delaney, who held the post in 1894–95 and 1904–08. The local <em>News Free Press </em>labeled the chief an “official anarchist” who had not only “assaulted scores of prisoners” but also “used his power to extort graft” from criminals and “played favorites” in enforcing the law. In 1905 it was discovered that Delaney, a Democrat, had played a major role in a voter fraud scheme to benefit the Democratic Party in the previous year’s election. Nevertheless, Delaney remained chief, but later resigned in 1908 amid public pressure from his broad-daylight beating of a man who turned out to be innocent. Delaney was eventually indicted for taking money from “red light denizens” while serving as police chief.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The department looked ahead to brighter days in 1909, when it celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. Delaney’s disastrous tenure even prompted some calls for reform. In June 1912, investigative journalist <strong>George Creel</strong> was appointed as Denver police commissioner and sought to end the force’s use of billy clubs. Yet most residents worried more about disorder than police violence, so Creel’s proposal was never enacted.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>By the 1910s, the Denver Police force had grown to more than 200 officers and became more organized with the administrative reforms of the Progressive Era. Formal police training began during this era, stemming from August Vollmer’s pioneer 1908 training program in Berkeley, California. An Army veteran-turned-cop, Vollmer was one of many reformers who believed the police should function more like a military unit to achieve better discipline and maximum efficiency. Overall, police departments during this period adopted their now-familiar rank hierarchy (with associated pay grades) as well as mounted patrols.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>The 1910s also saw the Denver Police grappling with labor disturbances and the increased popularity and danger of the automobile. During the <a href="/article/western-federation-miners"><strong>Western Federation of Miners</strong></a> strike against the <strong>American Smelting and Refining Company</strong> in 1903, dozens of Denver officers were called in to protect company property, with one sustaining an eye injury. Later, in the wake of a violent <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver-tramway-strike-1920"><strong>Tramway Strike</strong></a> in 1920—during which the state militia was called to assist the city police—the department added 100 more officers. Meanwhile, the department’s first traffic division was formed in 1910; it consisted of the largest officers on the force so they would be easily seen in traffic.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>1920s: Ku Klux Cops</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan experienced a national revival amid broad anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic sentiments, and new populations of southern blacks in northern (and western) cities due to the <strong>Great Migration</strong>. In Colorado, noted Klan members included Governor <strong>Clarence J. Morley</strong>, Denver mayor <strong>Benjamin F. Stapleton</strong>, and nearly two dozen Denver Police officers, including chief William Candlish.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>A former state senator from <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/leadville"><strong>Leadville</strong></a>, Candlish was appointed by Stapleton in 1924 and quickly turned the department against the city’s growing population of immigrants and ethnic minorities. In October, for instance, he issued an order to “oust all white girls from establishments of any kind owned and operated by Greeks, Japanese and Chinese within the city.” Despite such xenophobic policies, the Klan’s power at this time stemmed from institutional influence and intimidation more than outright violence. Its power in Colorado was also short lived. In June 1925, Colorado Klan leader John Galen Locke was arrested for tax evasion, and the group began a steady decline nationwide. Forced to renounce his Klan ties, Mayor Stapleton fired Candlish.</p>&#13; &#13; <h2>Prohibition and Effects on Policing</h2>&#13; &#13; <p>Meanwhile, much of the Denver Police’s day-to-day operations were consumed by the enforcement of prohibition. Owing to the heavy demands of policing a widespread black market in booze, Denver added hundreds of new officers, including its first accredited female officer, <strong>Edith Barker</strong>. To assist police efforts, lawmakers in Colorado (and elsewhere) essentially gave police free reign, resulting in a sharp increase in excessive force incidents, brutal interrogations, and warrantless searches and wiretaps.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>However, the increase in police power during this time did not translate into a decrease in criminal activity, especially in black-market liquor. Instead, bootleggers became more sophisticated, deadlier, and wealthier. Heavily armed mobsters, such as associates of the <strong>Smaldones</strong> and the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/carlino-brothers"><strong>Carlino Brothers</strong></a>, shot at each other and the police in broad daylight, or led police on deadly automobile chases. This led to a kind of arms race between major bootleggers and the police; for instance, the Denver Police began using armored cars with mounted machine guns at this time, foreshadowing the continued militarization of police throughout the twentieth century. Meanwhile, criminal wealth led to police corruption, as dozens of officers took bribes to look away from illegal liquor activity.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Although prohibition ended in 1933, the Denver Police Department did not downsize, but rather settled into its newly expanded power. Unfortunately, corruption and abuse—two huge hangovers from prohibition—continued to plague the Denver Police throughout the twentieth century and to the present, even as the department continued its work to improve public safety in the city.</p>&#13; </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/denver-police" hreflang="en">denver police</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/history-denver-police" hreflang="en">history of denver police</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/denver-police-history" hreflang="en">denver police history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/colorado-police-history" hreflang="en">colorado police history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/saloons" hreflang="en">saloons</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/brothels" hreflang="en">brothels</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/red-light-district" hreflang="en">red light district</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/early-denver-history" hreflang="en">early denver history</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/police-brutality" hreflang="en">police brutality</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p>William G. Bailey, “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Historical_Dictionary_of_Law_Enforcement/wIf5w6BJOmQC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=%22denver+police%22&amp;pg=PA91&amp;printsec=frontcover">Denver Police Department</a>,” in <em>The Encyclopedia of Police Science</em>, ed. William G. Bailey, 1995.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=CFT18760803.2.66&amp;srpos=24&amp;e=-------en-20--21-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22denver+police%22-------0--">City and Vicinity</a>,” <em>Colorado Daily Chieftain</em>, August 3, 1876.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=THD19120818-01.2.40&amp;srpos=27&amp;e=-------en-20--21-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22Denver+police%22+%22brutality%22-------0--">A Clubless Police Force</a>,” <em>Herald Democrat</em>, August 18, 1912.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=LWH18810507-01.2.28&amp;srpos=49&amp;e=-------en-20--41-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22denver+police%22-------0--">Colorado Condensations</a>,” <em>Weekly Herald</em>, May 7, 1881.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=NFP19080522-01&amp;e=--1900---1960--en-20--61-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22delaney%22+%22denver+police%22-------0--">Delaney a Practical Anarchist</a>,” <em>News Free Press</em>, May 22, 1908.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=TRJ19080508.2.110&amp;srpos=57&amp;e=--1900---1960--en-20--41-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22delaney%22+%22denver+police%22-------0--">Denver Police Chief Resigns</a>,” <em>Record Journal </em>(Douglas County), May 8, 1908.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=DMF19091225-01.2.17&amp;srpos=64&amp;e=--1900---1960--en-20--61-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22delaney%22+%22denver+police%22-------0--">Denver’s Police System Is 50 Years Old This Week</a>,” <em>Denver Municipal Facts</em>, December 25, 1909.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=TTJ19120905.2.50&amp;srpos=66&amp;e=--1900---1960--en-20--61-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22delaney%22+%22denver+police%22-------0--">Former Denver Police Chief Indicted by Grand Jury</a>,” <em>Telluride Journal</em>, September 5, 1912.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Julian Go, “<a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/708464">The Imperial Origins of American Policing: Militarization and Imperial Feedback in the Early 20th Century</a>,” <em>American Journal of Sociology</em> 125, no. 5 (2020).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=THD19050305-01.2.4&amp;srpos=14&amp;e=--1900---1960--en-20--1-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22delaney%22+%22denver+police%22-------0--">He Scores ‘Big Mitt:’ Waldron’s Close and Careful Analysis of Denver’s Political Corruption</a>,” <em>Herald Democrat</em>, March 5, 1905.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://denverpolicemuseum.org/history/history-facts/">History and Facts</a>,” Denver Police Museum, n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=RMW18591214.2.2&amp;e=-------en-20--1-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22charter%22+%22auraria%22-------0--">Laws of the Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson: An Act to Charter and Consolidate the Towns of Denver, Auraria, and Highland</a>,” <em>Rocky Mountain News</em>, December 14, 1859.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Shawn Lay, ed., <em>The Invisible Empire in the West: Toward a New Historical Appraisal of the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s</em> (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2004).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Jan MacKell, <em>Red Light Women of the Rocky Mountains</em> (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2009).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=RMW18600125.2.13&amp;srpos=8&amp;e=-------en-20--1-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22police%22-------0--">Mayor’s Message</a>,” <em>Rocky Mountain News</em>, January 25, 1860.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Leonard Moore, “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/police-brutality-in-the-United-States-2064580">Police Brutality in the United States</a>,” <em>Encyclopedia Britannica</em>, updated June 4, 2020.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=CLM18810129-01.2.15&amp;srpos=37&amp;e=-------en-20--21-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22denver+police%22-------0--">Ollapodrida</a>,” <em>Colorado Miner</em>, January 29, 1881.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=GTW18810626-01.2.5&amp;srpos=54&amp;e=-------en-20--41-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22denver+police%22-------0--">An Outrage</a>,” <em>Great West</em>, June 26, 1881.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Dr. Gary Potter, “<a href="https://ekuonline.eku.edu/sites/plsonline.eku.edu/files/the-history-of-policing-in-us.pdf">The History of Policing in the United States</a>,” Eastern Kentucky University, n.d.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Byron Reed, “<a href="https://www.9news.com/article/news/the-denver-police-department-has-a-history-of-hiring-black-officers-dating-back-to-the-late-1800s/73-4edde5e6-840a-491a-8061-358d27eab2b5">Denver Police Department Has a History of Hiring Black Officers Dating Back to the Late 1800s</a>,” 9News, February 11, 2019.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Ted Richthofen, <a href="http://digital.auraria.edu/IR00000098/00001"><em>A People’s History of Alcohol Prohibition in Colorado: Labor, Class, Gender, and Moral Reform 1916–1933</em></a>, undergraduate thesis, Metropolitan State University, 2019.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=LMR19050125-01.2.11&amp;srpos=3&amp;e=--1900---1960--en-20--1-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22delaney%22+%22denver+police%22-------0--">The Assembly and the Denver Frauds</a>,” <em>Lamar Register</em>, January 25, 1905.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=ADT19250609.2.16&amp;srpos=86&amp;e=--1920---1930--en-20--81-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22john+galen+locke%22-------0--">The Grand Dragon Under Arrest</a>,” <em>Aspen Daily Times</em>, June 9, 1925.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=DTM18740305.2.130&amp;srpos=13&amp;e=-------en-20--1-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22denver+police%22-------0--">The Police</a>,” <em>Denver Daily Times</em>, March 5, 1874.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Cheryl Siebert Waite, <a href="http://digital.auraria.edu/AA00002143/00001"><em>Denver’s Disorderly Women: Prostitution and the Sex Trade, 1858 to 1935</em></a>, master’s thesis, University of Colorado–Denver, 2006.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>James Walsh, “Vagrancy Laws in Colorado History,” <em>Colorado Heritage</em>, March/April 2016.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Robert Weller, “<a href="https://apnews.com/2cbb976bd9417e46018fbe4fe2b39fde">Scandals Spotlight Denver Police</a>,” <em>Associated Press</em>, March 24, 2000.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=ADT19241002&amp;e=--1920---1930--en-20--1-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22candlish%22-------0--">Why Not Throw Out the Greeks and Chinamen?</a>” <em>Aspen Daily Times, </em>October 2, 1924.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=RPA19240313-01.2.95&amp;srpos=11&amp;e=--1920---1930--en-20--1-byDA-img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22candlish%22-------0--">William Candlish Will Be New Chief Of Police in Denver</a>,” <em>Republican-Advocate</em>, March 13, 1924.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Carroll D. Wright, <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.li3h4y&amp;view=1up&amp;seq=23&amp;q1=Denver"><em>Labor Disturbances in the State of Colorado, from 1880 to 1904</em></a> (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1905).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p><a id="_Hlk48830448" name="_Hlk48830448"></a><a href="https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Departments/Police-Department">Denver Police Department</a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Denver Police Department, “<a href="https://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/denvergov/Portals/720/documents/DPD_Decade_of_Achievement.pdf">Denver Police Department, 2002–2010: A Decade of Achievement</a>,” 2010.</p>&#13; &#13; <p><a id="_Hlk48830453" name="_Hlk48830453"></a><a href="https://denverpolicemuseum.org/">Denver Police Museum</a>.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Marjorie Hornbein, “Three Governors in a Day,” in <em>Western Voices: 125 Years of Colorado Writing</em>, ed. Steve Grinstead and Ben Fogelberg (Golden, CO: Fulcrum, 2004).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Lisa McGirr, <em>The War on Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State</em> (New York: W. W. Norton, 2016).</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Melinda Pearson, “<a href="https://frontporchne.com/article/who-was-ben-stapleton/">Who Was Ben Stapleton?</a>” <em>Front Porch </em>(Denver), October 1, 2017.</p>&#13; &#13; <p>Eugene Frank Rider, <em>The Denver Police Department: An Administrative, Organizational, and Operational History, 1858–1905</em> (Denver: University of Denver, 1977).</p>&#13; </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Mon, 25 Jan 2021 22:34:17 +0000 yongli 3490 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org The Denver Police Department since 1933 http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver-police-department-1933 <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--title--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--title.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--title.html.twig * field--string.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">The Denver Police Department since 1933</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--title.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--uid--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--uid.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--uid.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'username' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> <span lang="" about="/users/yongli" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">yongli</span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/user/username.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--uid.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--created--encyclopedia-article.html.twig x field--node--created.html.twig * field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field--created.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'time' --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> <time datetime="2021-01-25T14:39:18-07:00" title="Monday, January 25, 2021 - 14:39" class="datetime">Mon, 01/25/2021 - 14:39</time> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/time.html.twig' --> </span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/field/field--node--created.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'addtoany_standard' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * addtoany-standard--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * addtoany-standard--node.html.twig x addtoany-standard.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="http://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver-police-department-1933" data-a2a-title="The Denver Police Department since 1933"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=http%3A%2F%2Fcoloradoencyclopedia.org%2Farticle%2Fdenver-police-department-1933&amp;title=The%20Denver%20Police%20Department%20since%201933"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'modules/contrib/addtoany/templates/addtoany-standard.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--body--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--body.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--body.html.twig * field--text-with-summary.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item" id="id-body"><p>The Denver Police Department is the primary law enforcement apparatus for the city of <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver"><strong>Denver</strong></a>. Officially formed in 1859 as a small group of marshals, today’s Denver Police Department consists of more than 1,500 officers in sixteen units active in a metropolitan community of more than 620,000 residents. Its headquarters is located at 1331 N. Cherokee Street. As of 2020, Paul Pazen serves as chief.</p><p>In its <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver-police-department-1859%E2%80%931933"><strong>early days</strong></a>, the Denver Police Department focused on bringing order to a fledgling city filled with drunks and prostitutes. In the early twentieth century, Denver’s explosive growth and changing demographics produced a gradual shift in police activity, from general maintenance of order to more targeted policing of specific groups and activities. The department grew in size and power during both the <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/progressive-era-colorado"><strong>Progressive Era</strong></a> (1900–20) and <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/prohibition"><strong>alcohol prohibition</strong></a> (1916–33). These years established the Denver Police—as well as American police more generally—as predominantly a force for social and cultural control, in addition to capturing criminals.</p><p>Since then, the Denver Police has provided justice for many victims, offered many residents a sense of security, and had innumerable positive encounters with citizens. However, the department today continues to grapple with many of the problems of its past, especially the erosion of community trust stemming from continuous instances of police-citizen violence and discriminatory practices. These have continued despite ongoing efforts at reform, from both within and outside the department.</p><h2>Prohibition Hangovers</h2><p>Before alcohol prohibition, police corruption and abuse of power occurred infrequently and on a much smaller scale than they did during and after. During prohibition, the massive scale of illegal booze activity necessitated an equally massive beefing-up of law enforcement. To drive the vice of drink from the land, lawmakers in Colorado and elsewhere essentially gave police free reign, resulting in a sharp increase in abuses. Corruption also increased during prohibition, as wealthy criminals paid dozens of officers to look away from their illegal liquor activities.</p><p>Although prohibition ended in 1933, the large police forces created to enforce it remained, and the abuses and corruption that became rampant in an era of expanding police power continued. Unfortunately, these hangovers from prohibition continued to plague the Denver Police Department throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.</p><h2>New Station, New City</h2><p>In 1939 the Denver Police moved to a new headquarters, a three-story Art Deco building at Thirteenth and Champa Streets. The building was built by the federal Works Progress Administration during the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/new-deal-colorado"><strong>New Deal</strong></a>. The new police station was not the only new thing about Denver at the time. The <strong>Great Depression</strong> had brought an end to the mining economy that had previously driven the city’s growth. In its place, Denver developed a multifaceted economy based largely on agriculture and manufacturing, with <a href="/content/great-western-sugar-company"><strong>Great Western Sugar</strong></a><strong> </strong>and <strong>Gates Rubber </strong>among the city’s leading businesses.</p><p>Into this new economy came new people. More African Americans arrived from the South, turning the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/five-points"><strong>Five Points</strong></a> neighborhood into a thriving Black community. Latino came from Mexico or other parts of the United States to work jobs in factories or sugar beet fields; they formed communities along the <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/south-platte-river"><strong>South Platte River</strong></a>, near today’s Lower<strong> Downtown Denver</strong>. The percentage of Denver’s population born in Mexico increased from .3 percent in 1910 (about 275 individuals) to 3.9 percent by 1940 (about 950 individuals)—not including those of Mexican descent who came from other states. Altogether, Denver’s population surged from just over 133,000 in 1900 to more than 320,000 by 1940. The growth of the city’s nonwhite working class would continue over the ensuing decades, prompting a shift in police activity that was largely driven by laws and perceptions crafted by Denver’s elite.</p><h2>Postwar Policing</h2><p>In the 1940s, Latino residents faced blatant discrimination in housing, employment, and policing. The city used the formation of Latino gangs as an excuse to pass broad vagrancy laws that criminalized all young Latino people. For instance, young people were banned from congregating outside pool halls and other popular places, which gave officers cover for excessively policing young Latino groups. Between 1945 and 1954, Latino residents represented 31 percent of those arrested for vagrancy, even though they made up only 10 percent of the city’s population.</p><p>This racialized policing continued over the next few decades and ultimately sowed resentment and distrust toward the police in many Denver communities.</p><h2>1960s–70s: Years of Unrest</h2><p>Trust in the Denver Police was further undermined in 1961, when detective Arthur “Art” Dill uncovered a ring of thieves within the department. Overall, fifty-four officers were arrested for a string of burglaries from 1954 to 1962. The saga was detailed by one of the officers, Art Winstanley, in his 2009 autobiography, <em>Burglars in Blue</em>.</p><p>Statistics do not tell a complete story of crime, but FBI data indicate a sharp rise in violent crime in Colorado in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This period also saw frequent peaceful demonstrations for civil rights, as well as many urban protests against systemic poverty in communities of color. George L. Seaton, Denver’s Police Chief from 1968 to 1972, remembered the 1960s as a time of “social catharsis” brought on by decades of inequality—“and in the middle of that ‘catharsis,’” Seaton wrote, “was the American policeman who dealt with . . . the violence, hatred, frustration, rage of American citizens too long denied the American Dream.”</p><p>Seaton led a department in a city that was 11 percent Black and 25 percent nonwhite, but where only 2 percent of police were Black and 1.6 percent were Latino. Art Dill, who succeeded Seaton as chief in 1972, tried to rectify that, bringing those percentages up to 6 and 13, respectively, by the time he retired in 1983. It did not help, however, that Dill inherited a department that according to two police historians, held “ass kicking” as a “hallowed tradition, especially with respect to minorities.” In predominantly Black communities such as <strong>Park Hill</strong>, for example, a 1967 police-community relations program instructed Black youth to cooperate with all police search requests of vehicles—an unnecessary level of compliance never expected of the city’s white youth.</p><p>Against this backdrop of rising crime, national unrest, and local distrust, the 1960s and 1970s were a period of intense mutual hostility between the Denver Police and the communities where it was most active. The police especially antagonized—and were antagonized by—members of the Crusade for Justice, a Chicano (Mexican American) activist group formed by <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/rodolfo-"><strong>Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales</strong></a> in 1966, and the <strong>Denver Black Panther Party</strong> (BPP), a militant Black rights group formed by <strong>Lauren Watson</strong> in 1967. The organizations formed to resist the discrimination endured by communities of color in housing, education, employment, and especially policing. Throughout the heated street encounters of these decades, members of both groups often used or threatened violence against the police as well. In March 1973, for instance, a street confrontation between Crusade for Justice members and Denver Police escalated <strong>into a shootout</strong> that seriously wounded several officers and killed twenty-year-old Luis Martinez.</p><p>In addition to overpolicing racial minorities, the police were also active in the culture wars of the times. The mostly conservative Denver Police and city officials made no secret of their general disdain for a younger generation that embraced far different norms of dress and behavior and was constantly agitating for civil rights and protesting the Vietnam War. This led the police to profile and target young people—predominantly young, college-aged whites—as “hippies.” For example, in 1970 officers attempted raids on a music venue and health clinic popular among young people, with Chief Seaton telling <em>The Denver Post</em> that “hippie pads” were home to “nothing but degeneration.”</p><p>The department policed other cultural lines as well. Veteran gay rights activists recall the Denver Police tricking gay men into admitting homosexual activity, then arresting them for it. As they did in earlier arrests of Latino youth, the police used a city ordinance—the Lewd Acts Ordinance, which criminalized homosexuality—to expedite the arrests of LGBT individuals. Activists got the ordinance repealed in 1973.</p><h2>1980s–2000s: Spy Files, Crackdowns, and Attempts at Reform</h2><p>Despite sustained community resistance and several attempts at reform, the Denver Police Department maintained its reputation for stoking community distrust into the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. From the 1950s through the 1990s, the department secretly collected information on more than 3,200 groups and individuals—most of whom were neither known nor suspected criminals. Denver Police continued targeting activists of color, including members of the <strong>American Indian Movement</strong>, on whom the department spied from 1986 to 2002 despite no evidence of criminal activity.</p><p>In 1993, after a series of violent episodes led the media to proclaim a “Summer of Violence,” the Colorado legislature passed a set of harsh sentencing laws and Denver Police established a forty-three-member “gang unit,” which worked with existing state and federal units focused on gangs. These units disproportionately targeted Latino and Black communities, where citizens repeatedly complained about a rash of unpunished police beatings, killings, and weapon brandishing; they also told researchers and interviewers that gang squads made their communities considerably less safe.</p><p>In 2000 Mayor <strong>Wellington Webb</strong> hired Gerald Whitman as police chief. An eighteen-year veteran of the department with a clean, impressive record, Whitman held the post for eleven years, making him the longest-serving chief in Denver Police history. He was given the job in part to bring change to a department that was experiencing high rates of turnover and low morale in the wake of its latest scandal, a no-knock SWAT raid at the wrong address that killed Ismael Mena, a forty-five-year-old Mexican national. One of Whitman’s first initiatives was to form a Clergy Advisory Team made up of local community leaders. He also reshuffled Denver Police leadership, created more training programs, and overhauled the department’s use-of-force policy in hopes of avoiding more unnecessary shootings.</p><p>Whitman’s reform efforts angered many longtime officers who felt that the chief was making their jobs more complicated and difficult. Part of the problem, according to one former officer, was an internal culture of violating citizens’ constitutional rights. Media reports based on internal sources referred to this set of unofficial (and potentially illegal) practices as “The Denver Way.”</p><p>Whitman’s tenure as chief was generally lauded by politicians and many citizens, even if his reforms did not stop police violence. “The Denver Way” prevailed on the street, and Denver Police continued to be plagued by use-of-force scandals. In 2011 newly elected Mayor <a href="http://www.coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/michael-hancock"><strong>Michael Hancock</strong></a> praised Whitman for his reforms but still replaced the city’s longest-serving chief with Robert C. White, another reform-minded chief whom Hancock sought to continue Whitman’s legacy.</p><h2>Today: Protests, Response, and Reform</h2><p>By the 2010s, the Denver Police were entrenched in a cycle common to police departments in other US metropolitan areas: the police would kill a person of color under questionable circumstances, protests and calls for justice and reform would follow, and then the cycle would go on, with or without justice or reforms. In particular, the 2015 killings of Jessica Hernandez, a teenager, and Paul Castaway, who was mentally ill, prompted fresh criticism of the department.</p><p>A year later, Denver allocated nearly $1.8 million for body cameras for its police department as a reform tool intended to provide clear evidence of either police misconduct or threats to officers. After all Denver officers were required to wear body cameras in 2017, the department reported that fifty-three officers were disciplined that year for failing to use them. Transparency issues, such as delays in release of footage or incomplete release of footage, hamstrung the efficacy of body cameras over the next few years.</p><p>In late May 2020, the graphic, highly publicized video of George Floyd’s killing at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, sparked a <strong>historic wave of protests</strong> against police brutality across the nation. In Denver, protesters crowded streets for nearly two weeks, demanding police accountability and reform, as well as funding cuts to the police department. At one point, Denver Police chief Paul Pazen, who replaced White in 2018, marched with peaceful protesters in a show of solidarity.</p><p>However, in the first few days of demonstrations, police and protesters engaged in several violent altercations. Police as well as protesters and bystanders were injured. The city eventually settled a lawsuit with those injured during police response, and a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against the department to limit its use of nonlethal weapons that had caused injury, such as tear gas and rubber bullets.</p><p>In the wake of the protests, Governor <a href="https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/jared-polis"><strong>Jared Polis</strong></a> signed into law a sweeping police reform bill that included a stricter body-camera mandate, struck down the state’s “fleeing felon” law (used by police to justify shooting fleeing suspects), made it easier to file lawsuits against individual officers, compelled police to report all uses of force, and allowed the state attorney general to investigate alleged patterns of abuse in police departments. The Denver Police Department has stated its support for these reforms and began implementing them in mid-2020; embattled chief Pazen has further stated his willingness to “reevaluate every single thing” at the department.</p></div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-author--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-author.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-author.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-author"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-author">Author</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-author"><a href="/author/encyclopedia-staff" hreflang="und">Encyclopedia Staff</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-keyword--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-keyword.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-keyword.html.twig * field--entity-reference.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-keyword field--type-entity-reference field--label-above" id="id-field-keyword"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-keyword">Keywords</div> <div class='field__items'> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/denver-police" hreflang="en">denver police</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/history-denver-police" hreflang="en">history of denver police</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/police-brutality" hreflang="en">police brutality</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/george-floyd-protests" hreflang="en">george floyd protests</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/social-justice" hreflang="en">social justice</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/activists" hreflang="en">activists</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/wellington-webb" hreflang="en">wellington webb</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/american-indian-movement" hreflang="en">american indian movement</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/crusade-justice" hreflang="en">Crusade for Justice</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/la-crusada-para-la-justicia" hreflang="en">la crusada para la justicia</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/black-panthers" hreflang="en">black panthers</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/lauren-watson" hreflang="en">lauren watson</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/paul-pazen" hreflang="en">paul pazen</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/michael-hancock" hreflang="en">michael hancock</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/denver-way" hreflang="en">the denver way</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/police-reform" hreflang="en">police reform</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/ismael-mena" hreflang="en">ismael mena</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/jessica-hernandez" hreflang="en">jessica hernandez</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/paul-castaway" hreflang="en">paul castaway</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/gerald-whitman" hreflang="en">gerald whitman</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/george-seaton" hreflang="en">george seaton</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/burglaries" hreflang="en">burglaries</a></div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-keyword"><a href="/keyword/police-crime" hreflang="en">police crime</a></div> </div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'links__node' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * links--node.html.twig x links--inline.html.twig * links--node.html.twig * links.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/contrib/bootstrap_barrio/templates/navigation/links--inline.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-references-html--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-references-html.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-references-html.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-references-html field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-references-html"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-references-html">References</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-references-html"><p><a href="https://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html">1910 US Census</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html">1940 US Census</a>.</p><p>Jake Bleiberg, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2020/06/16/police-body-cameras-transparency/">Value of Police Body Cameras Limited by Lack of Transparency</a>,” <em>Associated Press</em>, June 16, 2020.</p><p>Summer Burke, “<a href="https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&amp;context=psi_sigma_siren">Community Control: Civil Rights Resistance in the Mile High City</a>,” <em>Psi Sigma Siren</em> (University of Nevada Las Vegas) 7, no. 1 (April 2011).</p><p>Center for Policing Equity, “<a href="https://policingequity.org/about/who-we-are">About</a>,” n.d.</p><p>Center for Policing Equity, “<a href="https://policingequity.org/about/history">History</a>,” n.d.</p><p>Denver Police Foundation, “<a href="https://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/denvergov/Portals/720/documents/DPD_Decade_of_Achievement.pdf">Denver Police Department, 2002–2010: A Decade of Achievement</a>,” 2010.</p><p>“<a href="https://coloradosun.com/2020/06/27/denver-george-floyd-protests-settlement/">Denver Reaches Agreement in Lawsuit Over Police Response to George Floyd Protests</a>,” <em>Associated Press</em> (<em>Colorado Sun</em>), June 27, 2020.</p><p>Disaster Center, “<a href="https://www.disastercenter.com/crime/cocrime.htm">Colorado Crime Rates 1960–2018</a>,” via Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reports, updated 2018.</p><p>Robert J. Durán, “Over-Inclusive Gang Enforcement and Urban Resistance: A Comparison Between Two Cities,” <em>Social Justice </em>36, no. 1, 2009.</p><p>Robert J. Durán, “Racism, Resistance, and Repression: The Creation of Denver Gangs, 1924–1950,” in <em>Enduring Legacies: Ethnic Histories and Cultures of Colorado, </em>ed. Artura J. Aldama, Elisa Facio, Daryl Maea, and Reiland Rabaka (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2010).</p><p>Jessica Fender, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2011/09/01/defenders-step-up-for-denver-police-chief-whitman-as-he-prepares-to-step-down/">Defenders Step Up for Denver Police Chief Whitman as He Prepares to Step Down</a>,” <em>The Denver Post</em>, September 1, 2011.</p><p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=WMJ19611207-01.2.26&amp;srpos=1&amp;e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22officer+sentenced%22+%22denver+police%22-------0--">Fifth Former Denver Police Officer Sentenced for Burglary in County</a>,” <em>Westminster Journal</em>, December 7, 1961.</p><p>Natasha Gardner, “<a href="https://www.5280.com/an-inside-look-at-the-denver-police-department/">An Inside Look at the Denver Police Department</a>,” <em>5280</em>, September 2015.</p><p>Natasha Gardner, “<a href="https://www.5280.com/was-1993s-summer-of-violence-really-so-violent/">Was 1993’s Summer of Violence Really So Violent?</a>” <em>5280</em>, December 6, 2011.</p><p>Liz Gelardi, “<a href="https://www.denver7.com/news/front-range/denver/denver-police-department-rolls-out-body-cameras-to-first-wave-of-officers">Denver Police Begin Wearing Body Cameras</a>,” CBS 4 Denver, January 7, 2016.</p><p>Shay Gonzales, “<a href="https://www.academia.edu/5497253/_CALM_stands_for_be_cool_man_A_Black_Citizen_s_Patrol_in_Denver">CALM Stands for ‘Be Cool, Man!’: A Black Citizen’s Patrol in Denver</a>,” Academia.edu, n.d.</p><p>Ted Robert Gurr, “<a href="https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy2.library.colostate.edu/stable/1147382?seq=30#metadata_info_tab_contents">Historical Trends in Violent Crime: A Critical Review of the Evidence</a>,” <em>Crime and Justice</em> 3 (1981).</p><p>Jeff Haanen, “<a href="https://www.denverinstitute.org/denvers-changing-economy-1/">Denver’s Changing Economy: A Five Minute History</a>,” Denver Institute for Faith and Work, May 12, 2016.</p><p>“<a href="https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&amp;d=CNK19701217-01.2.61&amp;srpos=2&amp;e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxCO%7ctxTA-%22denver+police%22+%22hippies%22-------0--">Hip Help Offed</a>,” <em>Chinook</em> (Denver), December 17, 1970.</p><p>Matt Hoyer, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2017/11/24/like-other-native-americans-paul-castaway-didnt-have-to-die-like-this/">Like Other Native Americans, Paul Castaway Didn’t Have to Die like This</a>,” <em>The Denver Post</em>, November 24, 2017.</p><p>Terge Langeland, “<a href="https://www.csindy.com/temporary_news/police-targeted-american-indians/article_93a3832c-97f3-5232-b6bb-3bcdfe6d5dd7.html">Police Targeted American Indians</a>,” <em>Colorado Springs Independent</em>, December 19, 2002.</p><p>Conor McCormick-Cavanaugh, “<a href="https://www.westword.com/news/denver-police-chief-reevaluate-department-11723489">Chief Paul Pazen Commits to “Re-evaluating Every Single Thing” at DPD</a>,” <em>Westword</em>, June 9, 2020.</p><p>Jeremy P. Meyer, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2011/10/28/search-for-denvers-next-top-cop-kept-going-back-to-louisville/">Search for Denver’s Next Top Cop Kept Going Back to Louisville</a>,” <em>The Denver Post</em>, October 28, 2011.</p><p>Michael Miller, <em>Deep Nights: A True Tale of Love, Lust, Crime, and Corruption in the Mile High City</em> (Authorhouse, 2010).</p><p>Kirk Mitchell, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2011/10/29/departing-denver-police-chief-proud-of-his-tenure-thought-media-coverage-was-unfair/">Departing Denver Police Chief Proud of His Tenure, Thought Media Coverage Was Unfair</a>,” <em>The Denver Post</em>, October 29, 2011.</p><p>Wilmer Nieves, “<a href="http://digital.auraria.edu/AA00006170/00001/citation">The Denver Economy: Its History, Economic Base, Regional Impact and Its Direction Into the Future</a>,” MA thesis, University of Colorado-Denver, 1978.</p><p>Thomas J. Noel, “<a href="https://digital.denverlibrary.org/digital/collection/p15330coll14/id/9">City and County of Denver Police Administration Building …</a>” Denver Public Library Digital Collections (Thomas J. Noel photograph collection), n.d.</p><p>Noelle Phillips, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2017/10/23/denver-police-officers-fail-to-use-body-cameras/">Denver Police Boost Body Camera Training After Dozens of Officers Fail to Use Them</a>,” <em>The Denver Post</em>, October 23, 2017.</p><p>Maximillian Potter, “<a href="https://www.5280.com/the-chief-concern/">The Chief Concern: Police Chief Gerry Whitman Is Respected by Minsters and Reviled by His Own Cops. Should Denver Be Worried?</a>” <em>5280</em>, August 28, 2010.</p><p>George Seaton, “<a href="https://freerangelongmont.com/2011/07/09/outsider-absurd/">A New Police Chief for Denver—An Absurd Notion to Look ‘Outside’ the Department</a>,” <em>Free Range Longmont </em>(blog), July 9, 2011.</p><p>Allison Sherry, “<a href="https://www.cpr.org/2020/06/19/polis-signs-broad-police-accountability-and-reform-bill-into-law/">Polis Signs Broad Police Accountability and Reform Bill Into Law After Weeks of Protests</a>,” <em>Colorado Public Radio</em>, June 19, 2020.</p><p>Jerome H. Skolnick and David H. Bayley, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=VS2UYa38XFMC&amp;pg=PA119&amp;lpg=PA119&amp;dq=chief+art+dill+denver+police+policy&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=dEH2cwHEcM&amp;sig=ACfU3U34gPstlDiSY5JY0Ndcpi7lK6oxOQ&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwip77Sn1KzrAhVHqp4KHTIyAjA4ChDoATAOegQIAxAB#v=onepage&amp;q=chief%20art%20dill%20denver%20police%20policy&amp;f=false"><em>The New Blue Line: Police Innovation in Six American Cities</em></a> (New York, NY: The Free Press, 1988).</p><p>Allison Sylte, “<a href="https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/denver-aclu-protest-lawsuit/73-228d4727-5e59-4e69-a047-9e4be0fc68a5">2nd Lawsuit Filed Against City and County of Denver for Use of Force Against Protesters</a>,” 9 News, June 25, 2020.</p><p>Art Winstanley, <em>Burglars in Blue </em>(Bloomington, IL: Author House, 2009).</p></div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <!-- THEME DEBUG --> <!-- THEME HOOK: 'field' --> <!-- FILE NAME SUGGESTIONS: * field--node--field-additional-information-htm--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--node--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig x field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig * field--field-additional-information-htm.html.twig * field--text-long.html.twig * field.html.twig --> <!-- BEGIN OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> <div class="field field--name-field-additional-information-htm field--type-text-long field--label-above" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"> <div class="field__label" id="id-field-additional-information-htm">Additional Information</div> <div class="field__item" id="id-field-additional-information-htm"><p>ACLU Denver, “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20091120125020/http:/www.aclu-co.org/spyfiles/samplefiles.htm">The Denver Police Spy Files</a>,” 2009.</p><p><a href="https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Departments/Police-Department">Denver Police Department</a>.</p><p><a href="https://denverpolicemuseum.org/">Denver Police Museum</a>.</p><p>Natasha Gardner, “<a href="https://www.5280.com/direct-fail/">Direct Fail</a>,” (feature on Colorado criminal justice and juvenile justice system) <em>5280</em>, December 2011.</p><p>Elise Schmelzer, “<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2019/04/29/denver-police-paul-pazen-progressive-initiatives/">Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen Has Rolled Out a Series of New ‘Progressive’ Initiatives—Are They Working?</a>” <em>The Denver Post</em>, April 29, 2019.</p><p>Mort Stern, “What Makes a Policeman Go Wrong? An Ex-Member of the Force Traces the Steps on Way From Law Enforcement to Violating,” <em>Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science </em>53, no. 1 (March 1962).</p></div> </div> <!-- END OUTPUT from 'themes/custom/encyclopedia/templates/field/field--node--encyclopedia-article.html.twig' --> Mon, 25 Jan 2021 21:39:18 +0000 yongli 3489 at http://coloradoencyclopedia.org