Chris Daiker and Officer Conrad Vanegas work Union Station on Thursday, May 13, 2022.īut defense attorneys, advocates for people experiencing homelessness and even some police question the long-term effectiveness of the arrests, which are pushing people away from Union Station and into other areas. “There are still issues in Union Station and in Lower Downtown, but they are not anything like they were in the prior year and, particularly, last fall.” Officer Amy Homyak, Cpl. “It’s a lot better,” said Jerry Orten, president of the Lower Downtown Neighborhood Association. Drug use and calls for police services at Union Station have decreased, from a high of 2,669 calls in December to 1,634 in April, RTD data shows. Some of the people who use Union Station as a shelter and gathering space have left the immediate vicinity. The focused enforcement has improved the situation, police and residents said. The data also shows that many people are being arrested and ticketed multiple times at Union Station - a quarter of the 798 individual adults who were arrested or ticketed were taken into custody or received a citation at least twice. 1 and April 30.ĭespite stated goals of focusing on violent crimes and drug dealing, Denver police arrest data shows that the majority of arrests were for other crimes: outstanding warrants, possession of drug paraphernalia, drug possession and trespassing.

Nonetheless, Denver police made 828 arrests and issued 390 tickets in the vicinity of Union Station in the six-month period between Nov. Police, city leaders and people who live in the area say they know they can’t arrest their way out of unmet housing, substance-use treatment and mental health needs. RTD leaders crafted new ways to restrict non-passengers from the area. The mayor ordered Denver police to step up patrols.

The arrests followed demands late last year by transportation workers - who called Union Station a “lawless hellhole” - and people who lived near the transit hub that city leaders do something. It’s a scene that plays out daily in Denver’s largest transit hub, where police have made more than 1,200 arrests and citations in the past six months in a concerted effort to curb drug use and stop people without housing from using the public space as a shelter. “Are you OK?”Įventually, the men stood up, gathered their things and walked away.

An officer woke up a man curled in a bike trailer, only his shoes poking out from under the blankets. Another man slept sitting upright on a bench designed to deter sleeping, a square of foil in his hand. The officers gently shook people sleeping slumped on benches or on the floor, one man with a red lighter in his hand. The fluorescent lights cast a blue hue on the people inside. Police officers from the Regional Transportation District walked slowly through Union Station’s underground bus terminal at 8:30 a.m.

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