As the City of Colorado Springs continues to grow, the police department is faced with trying to maintain current levels of service with a decreased budget. In an effort to create additional patrol time for officers to respond to in progress types of calls, the Colorado Springs Police Department has incorporated some new response protocols which results in certain types of calls being handled different than in the past. |
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For accidents where all involved vehicles can be driven from the scene, there are no injuries or no one is suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, and the damage to each vehicle is less than $1,000, those involved will be referred to the nearest police facility or the website for reporting. If any of the above conditions are present, Colorado State Statutes still require an investigation by a law enforcement officer. |
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If someone finds property that does not pose a health or safety risk, and the property is not suspected evidence in a crime, instead of dispatching an officer to recover the property, callers will be instructed to bring the property to the nearest police facility. |
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In these cases, the calls will be screened by Emergency Response Technicians. If there is no suspect information or evidence on scene, the call may be referred to our Direct Line Reporting or Online Reporting system. This would include gas skips and shoplifting cases. |
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Calls that are strictly medical in nature and no police intervention or action is necessary, only medical personnel will be dispatched. The exception would be where the victim is under 10 years old or in the case of an unattended death. In addition, if medical personnel arrive on scene, they may request a police presence in cases where there is a suspicion of criminal activity or the potential for violence exists. |
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These are calls asking for an officer to stand by to prevent any violence between two or more parties typically engaged in some type of civil situation. Emergency Response Technicians will screen requests to identify any alternatives, such as asking the caller to take along a friend as an intermediary. Many of these types of calls arise out of a restraining order or Emergency Protection Order and we will continue to respond to these calls to ensure the safety of the protected party. We will continue with our practice of only responding to these calls during daylight hours, unless it is determined to be an urgent situation. Callers are advised of our limitations such as response times to these calls when the call is originated. |
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Patrol will no longer handle patrol check information that is not related to a call for service or a police report. In the past, residents have requested patrol checks when they go on vacation or other similar circumstances. This will no longer occur and only requests directly related to a threat or pattern activity will be processed. |
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We are continuing to work with the alarm industry to change our city ordinance to move towards an ?enhanced call verification? strategy to reduce the number of alarm responses. This process will take additional time and as an interim step, we have downgraded our response to alarm calls to a lower priority level. |
