Citizens Police Academy

I attended the Boulder Citizens Police Academy several years ago, and the alumni group meets once a week. Last night the speaker was Mark Beckner, chief of police, discussing current and future issues in policing. With the current budget crunch one area of emphasis is doing more with less. In 2000 the police department had 64,289 calls for service, and in 2009 there were 77,735 calls. This represented an increase from 371 calls per officer to 454 calls per officer. The challenge going forward will be to maintain service with reduced staff and funding, which will require improved online reporting, better use of data and crime analysis, regionalization of some functions such as the bomb squad and SWAT and improved technology. He expected immigration and language issues will require more multi-lingual officers. With the graying of America, there will be fewer young violent criminals but an increase in white collar crime such as fraud, identity theft and internet crime.