Push to create an Office of Neighborhood Safety in Denver snubbed in mayor’s budget
As community members filtered into Denver’s Shorter Community AME Church on Sept. 26, Robert Davis was busy putting fliers on tables and hugging anyone who walked through the door. The community conversation, which he was about to co-moderate, was centered on a topic that Davis has dedicated much of his career to: reimagining society’s approach to public safety.
Attendees were asked to answer a series of questions on their phones. “How effective is the Denver Police Department at preventing crime? At healing community harm?” Two questions read. The crowd heard from current and former elected officials working to reform the city’s criminal justice systems, activists pushing for change, and a public health expert who spoke about the root causes of violence, which often stem from trauma and oppression. Those in attendance were asked to envision a different approach to public safety, one that didn’t solely rely on law enforcement.
“We’ve become very lazy and dependent on law enforcement to solve all of our problems,” said Davis, a former pastor who is now the project manager for the Denver Task Force to Reimagine Policing and Public Safety, a coalition of organizations that formed in 2020 in the wake of the killings by police of George Floyd and Elijah McClain. “I think we’ve been asking the right questions. But we’re asking the wrong people.”
The group’s goal is to challenge the premise that more policing leads to safer communities. In May 2021, it published a detailed report that outlined ways to invest in historically marginalized communities; minimize unnecessary law enforcement interactions; reduce crime by increasing access to social services; and ensure more community oversight and input in establishing public safety policies that don’t center on law enforcement.
One of the leading recommendations in the report was to establish an “office of neighborhood safety” in Denver to house community-based violence prevention and mental health support programs outside of the criminal justice system. Numerous large cities have established similar offices across the country.