Denver to set up police command center for potential election unrest
Denver’s top officials will launch a police command post in preparation for potential postelection unrest — the first time the city has taken such measures around an election.
Public safety officials will set up their command post Tuesday, Department of Public Safety Executive Director Murphy Robinson said Thursday in a phone call with reporters. Police used a command post — which puts public safety leadership in the same room to monitor or manage an incident — during racial justice protests that drew thousands to the downtown area in May.
“Everything is different this year,” Robinson said, referencing the pandemic, months of protest about racial injustice and a contentious election. “That tension has caused us to prepare in a way we’ve never had to prepare before.”
The city on Monday also will open an Emergency Operations Center that will “monitor activity related to the election, fulfill public information needs through the Joint Information Center and support the City’s Election and Public Safety teams both during and after the election,” Theresa Marchetta, spokeswoman for the mayor, said in an email. The center will stay open on Tuesday, which is Election Day, and for as many days as necessary following the election.
The city last enacted its emergency operations center in March as Colorado recorded its first cases of coronavirus and has operated a similar emergency center for the past two presidential elections.
Denver public safety officials also notified other law enforcement agencies in the area that they may be needed in case of unrest.
Public safety officials are in constant contact with state and federal law enforcement — “more so than a normal election” — about intelligence regarding possible large- scale demonstrations or violence, Robinson said.
“Election night is not really my concern; it’s after election night that is my concern,” Robinson said.
City officials have not received protest permit applications but several people have reached out informally to the city about demonstrations they are considering, he said. He would not discuss the specific police preparations but said the city will be prepared.
The Denver clerk’s office and the police department have received a few reports of voter intimidation, but none have been substantiated, Robinson said.