The Denver Police Department is the local law enforcement authority for both the city and the county of Denver, Colorado. From their website at denvergov.org/police: “Our mission is to operate a police agency with a focus on preventing crime in a respectful manner, demonstrating that everyone matters.”
The DPD is organized into 2 main branches, Administration and Operations. Administration is composed of the Internal Affairs Division, the Financial Services Division, the Planning, Research and Support Division, the Airport Division, the Operations Support Division (comprised of the Fleet Management Bureau, the Training Bureau and the Investigative Technology Bureau) and the Administrative Management Division (comprised of the Records Bureau, the Identification Bureau and the Property Management Bureau).
Operations acts as both the investigative and patrol services for the DPD. The investigative services are delegated to four main divisions. The Major Crimes Division is composed of the Robbery/Homicide Bureau, the Sex Crimes/MEP (Missing and Exploited Persons) Bureau and the Domestic Violence/Fraud Bureau. The Investigative Support Division is composed of the Vice/Drug Bureau, the Vice/Drug Task Force Bureau, the Intelligence Bureau, the Special Investigations Bureau and the Gang Bureau. The Special Operations Division is composed of the Traffic Operations Bureau and the Metro/SWAT Bureau, which houses the department’s SWAT and K-9 units. In Addition, it is the home of the DPD’s bomb and air support units.
The Forensic and Evidence Division is composed of the Crime Scene Unit, the Firearms Unit, the Forensic Biology/DNA Unit, the Forensic Chemistry Unit, the Forensic Computer Unit, the Forensic Imaging Unit, the Latent Print Unit, the Quality Assurance Unit, and the Trace Evidence Unit.
The patrol services of Operations are divided amongst six districts. A citywide map of the districts can be seen at Citywide Map. Maps of individual districts can be found at: District 1 Maps, District 2 Maps, District 3 Maps, District 4 Maps, District 5 Maps, and District 6 Maps. District 6 also houses the DPD’s mounted units.
The city of Denver, Colorado has an estimated population of 628,545 residents and experiences an annual average of 27,655 crimes. Violent crimes account for around 14 percent of those crimes with murders at 39 (0.06 per 1000 residents), rapes at 376 (0.60 per 1000 residents), robberies at 1,168 (1.86 per 1000 residents) and assaults at 2,294 (3.65 per 1000 residents) for a grand total of 3,877 violent crimes per annum (6.17 per 1000 residents). Property crimes account for the other 86 percent of those crimes with burglaries at 5,175 (8.23 per 1000 residents), thefts at 14,908 (23.72 per 1000 residents) and motor vehicle thefts at 3,695 (5.88 per 1000 residents) for a grand total of 23,778 property crimes per annum (37.83 per 1000 residents). Overall, a resident of Denver, Colorado has a 1 in 162 chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime and a 1 in 26 chance of becoming a victim of a property crime each year,
Some police records and reports of the DPD are available to the public. These include, with some restrictions, accident reports, arrest / criminal history reports, crime scene photos and videos, Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) records, offense reports, premise history / calls for service, supplemental reports, 911 calls / dispatch recordings, DUI room video and other police reports. All of these offerings are available by mail request and many, but not all of them, are available online via a credit card. Links to the appropriate mail forms for request or the online request pages can be found at Police Records and Reports.
In the event that you need to locate information on people who are currently in custody in the Denver jail system or are housed elsewhere after being arrested in Denver, the Denver Sheriff’s Office maintains an online resource for garnering that information. It can be found at Denver Sheriff Department Inmate Search. This page features a simple search box where you can perform your search by entering full or partial keywords for last name, middle name, first name, booking number, gender, ethnicity, facility, status and CD number. There is also a drop box that allows you to search all facilities, or refine the search to specific facilities: County Jail, Denver Health & Hospital, Downtown Detention Center and Outside.