Transparency Portal to help Aurora residents get information about crime and use of force, similar to Denver

Scott Pasternack has operated his business Pasternack's Pawn Shop on East Colfax Avenue in Aurora since 1978. He knows it's in a high crime area.

"Colfax really doesn't change," said Pasternack. "You Hear about it, you see it. You have people flying down to Colfax here going 100 mph. They're crashing into buildings."

Now he can see how it measures up to the rest of the city. The City of Aurora has launched an online transparency and accountability portal. You can now go online and look up crime statistics and police use of force by neighborhood.

Denver has had one for many years but this is a first for Aurora.  The city created the portal to be more transparent about what APD does and how they are protecting the city.

"It's something we're very proud of. We want to make this data available for our community," said Aurora City Manager Jason Batchelor.

He says this has been in the works for many years and thinks it could Aurorans get to know their neighborhoods better.

"We think that's just a really important and powerful tool for our citizens, our businesses and others to have," said Batchelor. "This is actually just the first phase of the data that's out there. Now we're just going to continue to add to it."

Pasternack says knowing the information will be nice and he hopes it will help clean up his area.

"I love Colfax because it's where I grew up, but a lot of people hate coming down to this part of Colfax," Pasternack said. "I think any anything will help."

The city is currently beta testing the site. If you go and poke around on there, they would love it if you'd send them your feedback.