Wednesday, September 23, 2026, 9 a.m. (Denver time), Parr-Widener Community Room, Room 389
This Budget Hearings meeting of the Denver City Council covered the proposed 2027 budget for the Department of Public Safety, presented by the department's Executive Director and staff. The presentation covered the department's strategic priorities, budget philosophy, funding sources (a total budget of roughly $72 million, with a general fund portion of about $33.8 million), and changes including relocating the community corrections facility from the county jail campus to the Dahlia facility, reducing the cadet program by about $500,000, eliminating four FTE on the Street Engagement Team, and moving a 9-1-1 manager position to the 9-1-1 trust fund. Council members questioned staff on the cadet program, Street Engagement Team vacancies, Denver Health's CARES program funding, community corrections capacity and conditions, 9-1-1 answer times and staffing, and electronic monitoring efficacy. No votes were taken; written follow-up questions were due by end of day Friday, September 25th.
0:41 I think my colleagues are
0:48 introduction to start first
0:51 com. Me. What you district
0:53 Children southwesterly
0:54 destruction to half and
0:57 mayor's office Texas record
0:57 from the Sikeston
1:01 of Garner executive director
1:03 should make a means to finance
1:06 officer for Department
1:08 Angelica Houston apartment
1:10 units district tours of
1:12 district. He called 82
1:13 financial officer. Thank you
1:14 all for being here do a double
1:16 check to see there are folks
1:18 that are online. I didn't see
1:23 anything in the message. So
1:27 cars were half going perfect.
1:29 Are starting on time and will
1:30 end on time. The idea is for
1:32 department safety Fried at 20
1:34 minutes representation and
1:35 will open for a council member
1:36 questions. Council members.
1:36 Thank you again for doing 2
1:40 questions. One comment once a
1:43 another 2 questions calculated
1:45 and then you can jump back
1:46 into the We appreciate
1:47 everyone's attention and
1:49 engagement in process is very
1:55 important. I turn it over to
1:58 department safety Enter his
2:06 town unique any one of during
2:08 course floor and the floor
2:11 later on today numbers. But
2:14 budget look what prioritize
2:14 this year. Things very
2:18 important to cover these 2
2:19 division of the department
2:20 saying it's going to be a
2:21 significant amount of time
2:25 with them to spend a
2:27 significant amount of time
2:30 with it was basically to
2:33 retract take a look at so that
2:37 mold our current the nation's
2:42 leading public safety
2:43 ecosystem, advancing safety
2:44 trust, community will which
2:45 incorporates all of the
2:47 different characteristics what
2:50 we wanted put it to inflict
2:52 well. Second is the mission,
2:53 which is to support and hope
2:57 to see diverse public safety
2:59 agencies goal to ensure a safe
3:03 through collective effort. I
3:06 think our core values really
3:08 quickly Forton tried to cover
3:09 and that is accountability,
3:12 integrity and equity.
3:16 Transparency, stewardship,
3:18 commitment and humility. Part
3:22 of our core values, integrity.
3:24 We broke that out into
3:25 honesty, compassion at the
3:26 Kohl decision-making and
3:30 leadership. Lastly, equity
3:32 inclusivity, respect,
3:32 community focused and
3:35 collaborative. I think it's
3:36 really important to take a
3:39 look at this as well in terms
3:42 of how what guides our budget
3:42 principle in our decision in
3:45 public safety agencies and
3:48 this was derived out of. Our
3:49 time spent taking a look at
3:52 this as well and its community
3:55 center at safety and trust
3:55 keeping at the forefront of
3:56 that, what our priorities are,
3:59 which is prevention. And then
4:00 at the end of that, mine
4:02 obviously is the trust with
4:04 community. And it's to
4:04 strengthen public confidence
4:10 in showing up listening and
4:11 responding visibly and every
4:11 Denver neighborhood over the
4:15 past. 2 months, we spent a lot
4:15 of time in each of the corners
4:18 of Denver, myself. Sheriff
4:22 Diggins Chief Thomas Deputy
4:25 Chief Brandenburg Times Chief
4:26 to go to each one of the
4:26 Desmond Fulton taking our time
4:30 corners of Denver, too, take
4:31 those questions and really
4:32 engage in a in a different
4:33 type of And so we've been
4:37 doing that. Public first
4:37 workforce excellence, which is
4:40 to build a stable, fairly
4:42 manage workforce that develops
4:44 leaders and retains
4:46 experience. Public safety
4:47 professionals as we gain
4:49 competition right around us in
4:50 the front range. It's
4:52 important for us to constantly
4:53 stay a b#
4:54 in state. Make
4:55 sure that we're retaining the
4:58 best talent in the front range
4:59 and these are ones that I did
5:01 not come up with in terms of
5:02 strategic priorities. But we
5:04 came up with as an agency as a
5:09 number of all 5 of agencies.
5:09 Innovation and technology
5:10 transformation. He's another
5:13 important focus for us and its
5:14 writ to replace fragmented
5:16 agencies to systems with one
5:18 share technology foundation.
5:23 That connects data across
5:24 departments which extremely
5:26 important, especially as we're
5:28 talking about the use of data
5:30 to guide decision-making, our
5:31 ability to aggregate that
5:33 information and then make
5:34 informed decisions became
5:36 important part in a in a North
5:39 star for for agencies,
5:41 resilience in future
5:43 preparedness. Prepare all 5
5:45 agencies to anticipate trained
5:48 for and recover from emerging
5:49 threats looking at doing a
5:52 tabletop exercise this year
5:53 and a larger full-scale win
5:54 next year's. We talk ensuring
5:56 that all the agencies within
5:57 public safety are able to
5:59 respond appropriately.
6:01 Operational excellence and
6:02 stewardship, which is maximize
6:06 every public dollar through
6:08 discipline, prioritization,
6:08 clear, accountability and
6:09 continuous performance
6:13 improvement across the os. The
6:16 budget philosophy. Is to
6:19 prioritize court functions,
6:21 ensuring that we're able to
6:23 deliver a core functions such
6:27 as a policy direction, sworn
6:30 personnel, discipline, human
6:31 resource management, financial
6:33 management employee wellness,
6:37 9-1-1. Call operations
6:39 diversion programs and
6:40 administrative services to
6:42 support all public safety
6:44 agencies. And it's important
6:46 for us to really double down
6:47 on those core services because
6:49 wherever we're looking at in
6:51 the budget, that was the that
6:53 was our our North Star, which
6:53 is ensure that those core
6:58 services remain in place.
7:00 Mitigate impacts to essential
7:02 public safety services, which
7:03 was another of our budget
7:05 philosophies this year. Which
7:10 reduces funding. In community
7:11 corrections, safety finance
7:13 and the public safety cadet
7:17 program to mitigate impacts.
7:18 The department has realigned
7:20 is reporting structure to
7:23 mitigate disruption to
7:25 essential public safety
7:26 services. Lastly, our guiding
7:29 but your philosophy. Let's
7:32 focus on transparency and
7:32 public in and publicly
7:35 available information.
7:37 Prioritizes information
7:40 efficiency, transparency and
7:41 alternative responses in the
7:47 delivery of public safety. I
7:49 this slide here also speaks to
7:52 our budget philosophy and it
7:56 equity considerations. And
7:57 community Corrections has
7:59 implemented an equity action
8:00 plan which engage is new and
8:03 existing staff with support
8:04 and resources related to
8:07 equity, diversity and
8:07 inclusion to maintain a
8:08 workforce that is fully
8:11 equipped to approach daily
8:13 functions with the equity
8:14 lands with this so important,
8:15 especially for community
8:18 corrections. As we talk about
8:19 those folks who previously
8:21 been in custody being coming
8:22 back to community being
8:23 productive. Parts of
8:27 community. 9-1-1, emergency
8:28 operations is also
8:30 implemented. An equity action
8:32 plan, which includes the
8:33 analysis of emergency calls
8:37 received by limited English
8:38 proficient individuals. The
8:39 areas of analysis are
8:42 reviewing of 9-1-1, services
8:44 to determine specific areas
8:45 where additional outreach and
8:47 education will prove
8:49 beneficial. This is one that
8:51 was identified to ensure that
8:53 we're reaching not only all of
8:55 the individuals in our
8:56 community, but making sure
8:57 that those language barriers
8:57 don't become various to
9:00 service for them. Review of
9:03 all of 9-1-1, calls for
9:05 potential impact of language
9:05 barriers and strategize ways
9:07 to mitigate impacts to ensure
9:09 timely responses, resource are
9:16 sent to the right situation.
9:19 Take a look at the next one is
9:22 our budget by funding source.
9:24 And as you see a special
9:28 revenue fund on this a large
9:33 part that. We gain from our
9:34 communications fund which is
9:36 around 28 Million. The other
9:42 part from general fund over is
9:43 about 14. So altogether,
9:47 9-1-1. 28.6 with 189 fte
9:52 community 0.4 and crime
9:53 prevention and and Control
9:56 Commission. 1.6, but I safety
9:57 Department, regional services
10:00 donation funds about 110 which
10:03 a total 2027 budget of 72.0
10:09 5 million As you see our
10:12 personnel budget, our
10:13 personnel allocations is the
10:13 largest allocation that we
10:15 have in our budget. That's
10:19 it's a 27.0 7 million and
10:19 services and supplies which
10:23 covers quite a bit. And across
10:24 the Department Department of
10:30 Safety is a 6006.1 personnel
10:32 changes that we look at when
10:33 we see any type of expenditure
10:34 is reduction of on call
10:36 positions. And that was not
10:37 jus within the Department of
10:39 Safety. But citywide.
10:43 Reduction of vacant positions
10:44 which were for and those are
10:46 positions that were held open
10:47 even from my last budget
10:53 cycle. Move of 9-1-1, position
10:54 from general fund to the net
10:55 1, one trust fund being able
10:59 to shift at cost. So I total
11:08 General fund 33.8 million. For
11:10 2027 were still sitting 33.8
11:11 million million. As as I
11:15 mentioned, is small increase
11:16 from last year, which was
11:21 appropriated. 33.7 million
11:23 with the decrease. It be if of
11:29 223 Ft not is a reduction of
11:30 41 people as much reduction of
11:37 those on call positions. Last
11:38 year we talked about City
11:39 Council priorities for the
11:43 Department of Safety. When
11:44 that was mentioned was the
11:48 increase in community safety.
11:49 And and we focus this year on
11:52 the 9-1-1 emergency
11:53 communications, that budget
11:56 peas. 33.8 But some of that
11:58 has us talking about. As I
12:01 mentioned earlier, those
12:01 language initiatives that
12:02 we're doing in some other
12:06 things as well as we're going
12:08 through a cat overhaul in a
12:08 number of other different
12:09 technological changes to make
12:11 sure that we're able to
12:15 address community as a whole.
12:17 Build healthy communities,
12:18 community corrections pretrial
12:19 electric truck trying
12:22 monitoring services. We talk
12:23 about the support of workers,
12:28 safety management finance,
12:29 human, Human Resources
12:30 Administration employee
12:32 wellness, public integrity,
12:34 Vision, and the cadet program
12:37 as well as increased community
12:38 safety through team, which
12:41 will talk little bit about.
12:43 What's staying the same versus
12:47 changing. No change to
12:49 department court functions,
12:50 which is very important. As we
12:52 talk about the department's
12:52 safety supporting those 5
12:56 agencies. No change to
12:58 budgeted fte compliment from
13:02 9-1-1, operations. And there's
13:03 no reduction to the employee
13:04 wellness program Resources.
13:07 Also last year. That was a
13:08 point that we had to really
13:09 take a look at and very
13:12 concerned about. What's
13:17 changing is the relocating the
13:18 community corrections facility
13:19 located at the county jail
13:22 campus to the facility located
13:24 45th and Dahlia, we thought
13:25 that was important for a
13:26 Right now, our community
13:26 number of different reasons.
13:30 corrections team who does a
13:31 very good job and ensuring
13:33 that those folks who are
13:33 currently in custody, like I
13:35 said earlier, headed back to
13:37 community. The one thing about
13:39 it is that facility right now
13:41 sits within the county jail
13:42 facility, which means he's
13:45 still behind fence and barbed
13:46 wire when community
13:46 corrections is seeking to do
13:49 the work of transferring and
13:51 working with these folks to
13:52 enter community. It was became
13:54 important. Also to get them in
13:55 a space that would allow them
13:56 also to see where where
13:58 they're going to end up. So
14:00 it's another a number of
14:01 therapeutic impacts, Greg
14:03 Morrow and his team of work
14:04 very closely with us to try
14:08 and work through that.
14:11 Reduction of cadet program.
14:13 Expenditures as you know, that
14:14 this year, 2027 don't
14:16 anticipate the cadet program
14:19 growing at the same time,
14:21 Weast cadet program is still
14:22 solid. Why we're not bringing
14:26 in new students this year. We
14:27 It will remain flat in terms
14:29 of with those students who are
14:30 already in that program. And
14:31 one of the things as we look
14:33 at their program as well as
14:35 figuring how we can do things
14:38 to even make that program more
14:39 robust, especially in terms of
14:40 working with our partners at
14:43 msu and see you as we look at
14:44 particular degrees, that point
14:46 directly to public safety and
14:47 how we can how we can
14:52 strengthen that. Reduction of
14:54 4 Ft on the street engagement
14:55 team. I think some of that has
14:57 to do as well with the success
14:59 that the city has seen in
15:00 being able to reduce the
15:01 overall number of homeless who
15:04 are on the street. And as we
15:06 kind not shift completely that
15:07 responsibility, but the learn
15:09 how we can also leverage that
15:11 said team to do other things
15:13 in terms how do we keep our
15:14 business is safe in front of
15:16 them and more patrol
15:17 opportunities as well as
15:21 working with other agencies.
15:22 Then when my manager Fte from
15:25 the General Fund to the trust
15:26 fund, as we know last we
15:29 talked about and we did raise
15:30 the amount that we will be
15:32 receiving from that trust fund
15:33 was able to absorb that
15:35 manager that we moved in
15:42 9-1-1. The core services
15:46 9-1-1, emergency could come
15:52 center, but he did to 237 Ft.
15:56 That for that 4 Million. That
15:57 you see there, one-time
15:59 reduction is also due to a
16:02 capital expenditure. That was
16:03 the that deals with phone
16:06 system and our and dark So
16:07 that was a one-time capital
16:08 cost allocation. That was able
16:11 to be reduced. There.
16:13 Community corrections, as I
16:16 mentioned, the 13.1 net
16:18 decrease in special Revenue
16:19 fund budget to align with
16:22 program activity. Pre-trial,
16:25 electronic monitoring service
16:25 and the street engagement
16:34 team. 2027 General Fund Budget
16:35 change summary. The reduction
16:38 eliminate for fake it Street
16:39 engagement, liaison teams with
16:43 the team. As I mentioned. Move
16:44 one manager Ft, the position
16:48 to the 9-1-1 trust fund.
16:49 Reduce the cadet program that
16:52 that $500,000 savings there
16:53 can is to hold where we are
16:56 with the cadet program. And
16:58 move personnel services from
16:59 community Corrections County