Crime down in Aurora, Interim Police Chief Art Acevedo credits officers and policy
One year into the job, Aurora Interim Police Chief Art Acevedo says he is proud of the things his men and women have accomplished despite the criticism they have faced.
"No department in Colorado has been (more) scrutinized and maligned over and over again," said Acevedo.
He gave his state of the department on Thursday and led with good news for his department and the community.
"We have reduced crime across the board," said Acevedo.
He says violent crime is down nearly 15% year to date and property crimes are down 12%. The only blight was commercial burglary and shoplifting which are both up.
He credits the work of his officers for the decrease in crime.
"I could not be prouder as the chief in this department for a little over a year now," said Acevedo.
And he credits the tough-on-crime stance the city has adopted.
"The city of Aurora, thanks to our city council, is building an island of accountability," said Acevedo.
Last year was the second year the department was under a consent decree to fix issues in their policing.
Acevedo says after a rough start, the decree has really helped improve the department.
"That consent decree has been a blessing for us to be able to change our practices, our procedures, our training, our expectations, our expectations of each other, our expectations of the way we treat the public and the way we approach the public," said Acevedo.
Another challenge the department has faced is the lack of officers on the force. Acevedo says recruiting has picked up and Aurora's current officers have stepped up to fill any gaps.
"What we lack in terms of numbers we make up with the excellence and the commitment of the vast majority of men and women," said Acevedo.
He says going forward the department will continue to implement policies designed to stop crime like revising their chase policy to allow officers to pursue criminals more often and a policy of officers always responding to calls with lights and sirens.
Plus, he says he wants to tackle youth violence, an issue that has plagued the city.
"We have our summit that's planned. I think we'll have it in February, work with the school districts, work with the business community. We need to get kids jobs this summer," said Acevedo.
He says while he focuses on tackling crime, improving community relations and holding officers accountable he wants the community to help him by backing his officers.
"We've got a great team and we need to support the men and women there. We're in the stars. And these bars and we need to support and thank those officers that have stayed," said Acevedo.
