Report: Officer-involved shootings in Denver on the rise

DENVER – A new report shows officer-involved shootings in Denver are at a five-year high.

The Office of the Independent Monitor released its findings Wednesday.

According to the annual report, there were 12 officer-involved shootings in Denver in 2016. That is a slight increase from the previous year and the highest number of incidents involving the Denver Police Department in five years.

In 2016, 18 officers total were involved in the 12 shootings and the report breaks down their time on the force.

Five of the officers were new, between 0 and 5 years. Three officers were on the force between 6 and 10 years. Six officers were 11 to 15 year veterans of the force. Three officers were 16-20 year veterans, and one officer was on the force for 21 plus years.

MORE | See the entire 2016 Annual Report

The agency’s annual report also keeps track of the relationships between police and the community they serve, and it appears DPD Chief Robert White’s effort to reform the department and engage the community is taking shape.

According to the lengthy report, there were 388 community complaints against DPD officers, compared to 396 in 2015, a slight decrease.

Approximately 28 percent of filed complaints were about officers being accused of not fulfilling their responsibilities to serve the public. Seventeen percent of the complaints pertained to officer discourtesy, and 11 percent involved reported inappropriate force.

Also in the report, is the introduction of DPD's demographic data collection. Police officers are now taking voluntary collection of data on the race and ethnicity of people contacted by police. This information will be used to make sure officers are following its biased policing policy, which prohibits racial profiling.