Non-criminal complaints to 311 will be handled by the Early Intervention team instead of DPD. Author: Nate Lynn Updated: 4:52 PM MST March 3, 2021
DENVER The City and County of Denver is taking a new approach to handling general complaints about local homeless encampments.
From now on those calls will go to the Early Intervention Team (EIT) instead of the Denver Police Department (DPD), according to Laura Dunwoody, the director of 311 City Services.
Dunwoody said the intention of the change is to get to people experiencing homelessness while the groupings are small.
The EIT will be able to work with unhoused individuals and team them up with resources that can help them get off the streets, Dunwoody said.
It is going to be life or death | Extreme cold brings deadly consequences for people experiencing homelessness
Newly opened Safe Outdoor Spaces in Denver give people a place to get access to services and a warmer spot to sleep. Author: Marc Sallinger (9 News) Published: 7:20 PM MST February 13, 2021 Updated: 9:36 PM MST February 13, 2021
DENVER Spending more than a couple of minutes outside this weekend will be painful. Living out here could be deadly.
Whenever the temperature drops this low, it can become a life or death situation for people experiencing homelessness. On a day like Saturday, the coldest of the cold, Dr. Kathleen Van Voorhis thinks of those who will spend it outdoors.
Westword’s January 26 report that Mayor Michael Hancock has seen the newly dropped video “Message to the Mayor” by Kid Astronaut (Jon Shockness), Apostle (Jeff Campbell), Bumpy Chill (Adrean Jones), Kingdom (Jeffery McWhorter) and Mizta Sandman (Shannon Richardson), in collaboration with producer Mic Coates. The experience of this powerful new work exposes the continued deadly injustice of the City of Denver’s policies toward our houseless neighbors. These most vulnerable of our citizens, disproportionately people of color, veterans, those with mental and physical disabilities, queer and trans youth, and other members of marginalized communities, are regularly set upon by cops and staff from the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure and the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment in traumatic displacements that have come to be known by the white-washed term “sweeps.”
George Floyd Protests
Just a few days after the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police on May 25, first dozens, then hundreds and eventually thousands took to the streets of Denver to protest police brutality and demand accountability and reform. The size and scale of the protests caught the Denver Police Department by surprise, and law enforcement responded in an unnecessarily heavy-handed manner, demonstrators charged and a judge agreed. The protests led to some major political developments, including state lawmakers successfully pushing for the country s most progressive law enforcement reform bill. Meanwhile, the city is now on the receiving end of multiple federal lawsuits regarding police conduct during the protests, as well as a critical report from Nick Mitchell, the outgoing Independent Monitor.