Enough To Keep You Safe?
By Tak Landrockt.landrock@krdo.comwww.twitter.com/taklandrock
COLORADO SPRINGS – It’s Wednesday night and already 22 people are waiting for help from Colorado Springs police; many will wait several hours before even seeing an officer.
It is just part of the never-ending job police face daily in the growing city. “I love my job,” says patrol officer Mark Daly. He’s worked for the CSPD for the past nine years. “You’ll find very few cops that are like, ‘I hate this place.'”
As the city grows, the number of officers on the street shrinks. At 7 p.m. Wednesday night there were 48 cops patrolling the entire city. All were busy on calls and none were traffic stops.
Officer Daly works in the Stetson Hills Division on the northeast side of Colorado Springs. It’s the largest division covering 64 square miles with a population of 119,000.
When he started back 2000 he was able to stop by stores and talk managers and owners. “You knew a lot more about the businesses because you spent a lot more time there, face to face with people.” It was a way to reach out to the community, but now he doesn’t have the time.
Like many officers on the road, he is alone, going to calls where sometimes he doesn’t have backup. “A lot of times I can be on that scene by myself for anywhere from five to 12 minutes before the next one can show up to help me,” says Daly.
He tells NEWSCHANNEL 13 sometimes he will wait, but if someone is screaming for help and back up is nowhere near the scene he just has to go in. “Usually if someone is in danger, you’re going to risk it.” He says all you can do is be cautious of your own safety when you are going in by yourself.
Daly thinks on a night like Wednesday two more officers would have helped his division. “We have sectors that are not being watched.” He says if someone should call in for help officers will be dispatched, but it might it might take a few more minutes to get there.
