Aurora Police outline data-driven crime strategy, warn department remains understaffed

Chief Todd Chamberlain, chief of the Aurora Police Department, told the Aurora City Council on April 7 that the department has overhauled policies and operations to support an evidence-based crime strategy while continuing to face staffing shortages.

Chamberlain said the department has revised policies on pursuits, emergency vehicle operations, use-of-force reporting and complaint adjudication to reduce backlog and improve deployment. "Everything that we do in Aurora PD is evidence based," he said, adding that the changes were necessary to get officers back into patrol duty and to protect the department from litigation when officers follow written policy.

Chamberlain gave the council a three-part framework for fighting crime: near-term hot-spot policing that targets small geographic areas; mid-term, place-based collaborations that involve city departments and the city attorney; and long-term intervention and prevention work, such as the AuroraSave program. He described AuroraSave as a case-management-style intervention that focuses on people with the highest propensity for violence and said the program had recently engaged three…