PARKER, Colo. — The Parker Police Department is encouraging residents to obey the rules of the road by taking community listening to a new level.
"We're very much into community policing here at the Parker Police Department," Patrol Officer Chad Barker said.
One way the department says it is ensuring the city's streets are safe from reckless behavior behind the wheel is giving residents the ability to share their concerns.
"We have an interactive map now that they can view online," Barker said. "It only takes, like, a minute or so. They can just type in places of concerns and then we'll get it back on our end, and we can send out, you know, patrol officer or our traffic unit, and they can go run enforcement in those areas."
View the maps or submit feedback here.
And Barker says the efforts of the department are working.
"As time goes by, those kind of hot spots will pop up again, but when we're there, and then the next couple months afterwards, we do see a decrease," he said. "That's what we're trying to do, ultimately, just decrease the level of concerns in that area."
Just recently, an area that has been a spot of concern has been in the neighborhoods around Motsenbocker Road.
Shaun and Melissa Pottberg have lived in a neighborhood near Motsenbocker Road for six years and have two young children.
They say between Motsenbocker and the nearby Todd Drive, there have been a number of incidents of reckless driving.
"We definitely have seen speeding in Parker, especially right behind us here on Todd," Shaun told Denver7's Tyler Melito. "I think some people like to use it as kind of a drag race strip, especially at night."
They say it can be nerve-racking as parents when people do not drive with caution through neighborhoods — especially in the nearby school zones.
"We have had some issues with people with the school not obeying the laws and not stopping for school buses," Melissa said.
Barker says every officer looks for different things when monitoring drivers, but the department is not trying to "trap" drivers and catch them in the act of breaking the law.
He said he likes to make sure his cruiser is visible when on patrol.
"I like to set up in front of speed limit sign so people know, 'Oh, like, let me check to see my speed,' and then they can see the speed limit sign and understand what speed to go at," Barker said.
In 2025, the Parker Police Department made roughly 8,800 traffic stops, a 37% increase from 2024. Barker said part of that comes from consistently returning to areas previously considered problem spots.
"I'm looking for about 10 miles or over, give or take for a stop. So you get, like a black sedan there, it's going about 40 — so pretty close," Barker said while demonstrating how his radar detector works.
"See how most people are slowing down here? That's kind of what my goal is."
And while not every traffic stop ends in a driver getting a ticket, Barker says the mindset of "going with the flow of traffic" isn't a strong one.
"I guess kind of my best analogy to that would be... let's say your friend is doing something wrong, and you then do what your friend did, and you say, 'Oh, well, my friend's doing that, so I get to do that. Why am I in trouble?' Kind of same thing with traffic, right? Just because one person is doing it doesn't make it right and okay for everyone else to do it," Barker said.
Shaun and Melissa Pottberg said they have noticed an increase in officers patrolling the area and watching for people speeding and driving dangerously. While they are grateful, they still want people to remember safety.
"If your kids were out playing, would you want somebody to be speeding around your children?" Melissa said.
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.