Denver Post

Station aims to bind cops, residents
Battered District 2 to get new home
By Sean Kelly
Denver Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - Police and residents in a northeast Denver neighborhood racked by violence in recent months are promising new cooperation in a new building.

Denver police on Monday broke ground on a new, $7.1 million District 2 station near East 38th Avenue and Holly Street.

"It will belong to this community," said Cmdr. Mike O'Neill, who heads District 2 and began his career in the district as a patrol officer.

When it opens in about one year, the 39,000-square-foot building at 3921 Holly St. will replace the existing 33-year-old police station at 3555 Colorado Blvd., which has just 7,500 square feet.

With more investigators working out of district stations, the downtown police headquarters will become less crowded.

The new station was paid for with bonds voters approved in 1998. That same ballot question approved new stations in Districts 1 and 3, in northwest and southeast Denver.

Police Chief Gerry Whitman said he expects that the new station will improve morale in the department and the neighborhood.

"It's what the cops deserve, and it's what the community deserves," Whitman said.

The Park Hill neighborhood has suffered through several high-profile incidents. It's where 15-year-old Paul Childs was shot and killed by a police officer last month.

And the neighborhood is where officer Kurt Peterson was shot in the face by 20-year-old Anthony Jefferson during a traffic stop in November. Jefferson was shot and killed by another officer.

Last week, although not in Park Hill, four people were found shot to death in a home about 1 mile from the existing District 2 station.

Several dozen neighborhood residents showed up at the groundbreaking and uniformly praised police efforts to connect with the community at a time when the department has come under fire.

"This is one of the greatest things that could happen to our community," said Gladys Raj, a 75-year-old activist who challenged her neighbors to "buckle down and be better citizens."

The new station has a community room, which can seat up to 85 people.

City Councilwoman Elbra Wedgeworth, at times critical of the department, promised a "very friendly, community-based police station."