DPD's District 1 Hosts Meeting On Growing Violence: 'It's Just Terrifying'
DENVER (CBS4) - There was a packed house at the District 1 Denver Police station community meeting on Wednesday. Neighbors filled a conference room to share their concerns on the high crime happening in the north Denver area.
Residents like Caroline Gador attended the meeting to speak out against the gun violence because of the uptick in crime the community is seeing.
"We've had multiple, multiple gun shots right outside of our door," Gador told CBS4. "It's just terrifying. That it's right outside of our door, our children play in the park, it just hits differently now."
Division Chief Ron Thomas said there are more guns on the streets than ever before, and the violence ranges from non-fatal shootings to homicides and more.
"We're at unprecedented numbers in both of those crime categories, you know following a national trend really, we understand there are things we need to do to address that," said Thomas.
District 1 isn't the only area seeing high violent crimes rates. It's happening more often in many of Denver neighborhoods.
"I think every district could certainly use an opportunity to express their concern, hear what police officials are doing to address the violence that we're seeing," he told CBS4.
District 1 leadership is hoping to have another meeting with the community in about a month. They're also asking people to utilize tools like Crime Stoppers or Safe2Tell to report information that they may see. While the meeting did help address concerns, it's an issue parents like Gador will continue to worry about.
"Something's absolutely reassuring to know, and something's still a little bit terrifying," said Gador.