Chacon wants to save us — not from crime, but from law enforcement

Among City Hall’s most pressing priorities is the crime fight — from stopping speeders to preventing deadly violence. And at a recent council session, the City Council got an encouraging update from Police Chief Darrel Guadnola about new technology and procedures in use to zero in on lawbreaking.

Guadnola recapped for the council how Flock technology for gunshot detection and license plate reading is aiding police in the crime fight, as will the use of aerial drones beginning next year. Just since the first steps of the Flock system were introduced last May, police already have detected and responded to 80 gunshots; recovered eight stolen vehicles and made six arrests using the technology.

The good news was welcomed by the council members — except Renée Chacon, the climate activist and social justice warrior who occasionally finds time to represent Ward III on the City Council. Chacon wanted to know if the north side of Commerce City was getting “just as much surveillance” through Flock as the south side. The chief tried to set her straight.

“No, last year when I got here, taking a look at some of the crime numbers that we had, I looked to see where we had our most pronounced issues with gunshots and gunshot wounds,” the chief explained. “And without question, there's a three-and-a-half-square-mile area in the south that … accounted for 45 to 70% of all the gunfire and of all the people who were shot.”

In other words, police look for crime where it’s likely to be. Makes sense. Except, apparently, to Chacon.

“…How do people feel about it as a surveillance state? Because it's a drone, it's now flock cameras, it's just so much,” Chacon persisted. “I don't want it to be seen as a racial inequity completely focusing on just the south …”

Chacon also asserted that while Flock tallied a disproportionate share of gunshots in one part of town, “there wasn't a single call from (the) community in and of itself.” She said, “When I was young, we never called the police,” and she suggested a “buffer” between police and the public — like “guardian angels …or local vets” — “to build that transparency and kind of community.”

The chief expressed an openness to “engage with anybody” but made clear what was at stake — issuing what should have been a wakeup call to Chacon.

“…Eveverybody wants safe streets, safe parks, safe communities, safe places for their kids to play,” Guadnola told her. “Yeah, gunfire to the tune of 80 of 'em since Flock rolled out in a 3.5 square mile area, that's antithetical to anything safety related. So certainly we want to do whatever we can to introduce ourselves to the people who are responsible for that and deal with them appropriately.”

After all, if most of the crime is being committed in south Commerce City, isn’t that where most of the victims also would be, as well as most of the residents who are in harm’s way? Isn’t the new law-enforcement technology helping those same Commerce City citizens most of all?

At least, the chief has their best interests at heart — even if Chacon doesn’t.