Chief Whitman and Activists: Denver Police Profiling
The Denver Post Denver Police Chief Gerald Whitman joined several dozen community activists todayto reaffirm that his department will not tolerate the practice of racial profiling and will continue to prohibit biased policing. Whitman spoke at a press conference during Denver's Juneteenth celebration in Five Points. He also released a letter on the subject. "We will continue to look at data to identify those officers who are involved in it," Whitman said. "We will determine patterns, but it can be very difficult in some neighborhoods when people won't talk with us. The community makes us effective," he added. Denver police and activists have been holding neighborhood talks since 2005 to address perceived problems with the city's "broken-windows" policing strategy, which was created to reduce crime in at-risk areas. The theory is that stomping out smaller crimes such as vandalism and littering may prevent more serious crimes from taking root. But residents living in some Denver neighborhoods said all the strategy did was to cause racial profiling. Many said their children were being targeted. Whitman and activists agreed Saturday that although progress was being made, there still is a lot work to do. "It's a milestone, but we have to keep the pressure on," said Lisa Calderon, an organizer with the Denver chapter of INCITE!
1 comment:
Whitman should be replaced. It wouldnt take a panel of citizens very long to go thru the police personel files and root out those who are not good cops.
Your right about one thing and law enforcement starts with the citizens. If they mistrust the cops who serve them, law enforcement isnt effective. Waste of tax payer dollars.
Same should be done at the CDOC, go thru there personel files and get rid of a bunch of hyprocrites there as well starting with director Zavares, who is a crony of Ritter's. djw
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