In Partnership with
the Denver Police Department
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What is the Leetsdale COP Shop?
Located in District 3 of the Denver Police Department, it is
Denver's first 100% volunteer operated policing storefront. COP Shop is
an acronym for Community Operated Policing Storefront.
Why a COP Shop?
COP Shops offer a convenient and comfortable alternative to the Denver
Police District Sub Stations. Their objective, as partners with
the Denver Police, is to bring policing closer to the people in order
to help create safe and friendly neighborhoods.
Citizens are spared the inconvenience of having to make a trip to a
district sub station. Trained volunteers can assist them with preparing
offense reports and minor traffic accident desk reports.
COP Shops also provide Denver Police with access to computers to
facilitate communications with their respective districts. Police
presence at the COP Shops also serve to get volunteers to interact
with them and learn more about activities in the neighborhood as well
as the city as a whole.
COP Shops save the city of Denver tax money as they are a non-profit
organizations with their funding coming from donations and grants. Rent
for the Leetsdale COP Shop is subsidized by the Leetsdale Marketplace
merchants.
COP Shop
History
The Leetsdale
Community Operated Policing Storefront is the first totally community
driven, community oriented storefront in Denver. When southeast Denver
neighbors were approached with the concept of community policing, area
Neighborhood Association leaders decided to help the Police Department
with the safety and quality of life in their neighborhood.
Community
Oriented Policing is not a program, but a philosophy. The idea of
locating a police facility within a storefront or other structure in
either a commercial or residential area is to enhance the visibility of
the police and to provide opportunity for citizen involvement in the
neighborhood safety initiatives.
Denver District
3 Police contacted southeast Denver neighborhood associations in
December 2001 with the idea of establishing a policing storefront.
Regency Realty, property managers of the Leetsdale Marketplace, had
held a storefront off the market since 2000 in hopes of establishing a
community operated policing storefront at the Marketplace. (Now that
the COP Shop is in operation, the other store lessees
in the Marketplace are paying the rent for the storefront).
The first
informational meeting was held at the storefront where those attending
were greeted by a room in disarray with surplus and used desks, file
cabinets, dividers, etc, scattered throughout but not one chair. At
that time a steering committee was formed and for the next few weeks
many meetings were conducted at various members homes. During that
time the committee had many obstacles, roadblocks and disappointments
to overcome. Promised funding did not materialize, but business and
individual donations of money and furnishings were forthcoming and the
prospects of the COP Shop becoming
a reality brightened.
The Leetsdale COP
Shop opened March 2, 2002 just a little over two months after
the first informational meeting. A great group of very interested,
talented and dedicated volunteers made this possible. The official
Grand Opening was held on Saturday, April 20, 2002. On May 11, 2002 COP
Shop Bylaws were approved and a governing board elected. The COP
Shop then became a non-profit organization, a Colorado
corporation with 501”c3” status. There were initially 30 volunteers
available to operate the COP Shop on a limited basis
six days a week. Now, an
average of
40 volunteers currently man the storefront six days a week. For
specific hours of operation, call 303 329-0500
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