Criminologist sets out goal

Plan will be success when Capitol Hill fear fades, he says

Lou Kilzer, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 18, 2006 at midnight

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Criminologist George Kelling said he'll know his program has worked when he sees kids and parents walking around Denver's Capitol Hill neighborhood at night without fear.

The city's not there yet, he said.

Wrapping up seven months of work, Kelling pointed Monday to some positives he and his Hanover Justice Group have brought to Denver.

A pilot project on "broken windows" policing has sharply reduced crime in one neighborhood, commanders are getting together weekly to discuss what they're doing wrong and right, and a new strategy that will shift police assignments could be announced as early as next week.

Moreover, crime in the city has reversed trends and is heading down, 8.4 percent so far this year, according to police records.

But Capitol Hill remains a vexing problem, with an integrated program there to tackle crime and the fear it generates still a month or more away.

A survey he took before the project began last December showed that in Capitol Hill, "fear at night is very high," Kelling said.

If he gets what he wants, he says, citizens and even tourists will be strolling the area at night.

That change couldn't come fast enough for Christine Cook, a Capitol Hill property owner and activist who has complained about crime in the area.

"It should have never gotten this bad," she said.

However, she has said that an additional patrol car or two have come into the area and some of the bad actors have moved down the street.

But something else is happening to cause concern. Ever since the smoking ban went into effect in bars, patrons are going to the side streets and alleys for a smoke, she said. There, they meet some of the denizens of the night pushing crack cocaine, and some have taken up the habit.

However, she said that overall she is "happy with DPD progress," but expects more to come.

Mayor John Hickenlooper hired Kelling last year after reports that Denver crime had gone up steadily while arrests had suffered a seven- year decline.

The program that Kelling feels has had the most immediate success involves weekly meetings that Chief Gerry Whitman holds with his officers.

The attitude of accountability that has grown during the first few months of the program has filtered all the way down to the rank and file.

"Officers want to do good police work," Kelling said. But, for whatever reason, some "felt out of the loop."

Kelling's "broken windows" program was tried intensively in the Westwood neighborhood in southwest Denver. In it, beefed-up police presence targeted graffiti and other quality-of-life crimes.

Nick Rogers, a board member of the Police Protective Association, said he is impressed with the "broken windows" strategy in District 4.

Rogers, who has been critical of the department on other issues, said the change is "good and positive. It's been tremendous for morale."

kilzerl@RockyMountainNews.com or (303) 892-2644

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