Police chief pitches multi-stakeholder "certified crime prevention" model for Cañon City

The Cañon City Police Chief introduced a proposed multi-stakeholder certified crime prevention program during the committees inaugural meeting, describing it as a framework that would coordinate the police department, public works, schools, social services and civic organizations to identify benchmarks and plan community-level responses.

The chief said the model is a template used in Virginia where cities meet certification benchmarks and noted Colorado currently has no statutory counterpart. The chief framed the idea as an extension of relationship-driven policing and said the program would produce collaborative plans for problems such as retail theft, homelessness or substance-use issues. "It's about ... bringing multiple stakeholders to the table," the chief said.

Committee members asked for materials and a deeper, "in-the-weeds" presentation; the chief said he has manuals, pamphlets and links and will bring more detail to the February meeting so council-level buy-in can be assessed before broader community engagement.

Chair Amy Smisher said staff will circulate the chiefs materials to the committee in advance and that any communications among members will follow Colorado open meetings requirements (staff will send materials to one contact to avoid inadvertent multi-member discussions). No formal action was taken at the meeting; the proposal is at an exploratory stage pending further committee review.