• I will support intervention programs for people involved with or at risk of becoming involved with the legal system.
• I will support programs that reduce interactions between police officers and persons experiencing a mental, emotional or chemical crisis.
• I will support options to incarceration when they will help improve the lives of everyone involved in a crime.
• I will support measures to improve the emotional well-being of survivors, the convicted, law enforcement officers and anyone experiencing trauma.

I was asked in August 2020 to serve on the Task Force to Re-Imagine Policing and Public Safety. Prior, I had minimal interaction with law enforcement. Working on the Task Force has introduced me to many citizens and police officers calling for various levels of change.

I am in favor of reforming public safety departments. Denver primarily allocates funds to punishment, rather than prevention. Law enforcement officers are frequently called to take care of people suffering mental and emotional health crises. That scenario is unfair to both the person in crisis and the police officers who are untrained to respond to mental health crises.

Denver City Council has made a sizable investment in Support Team Assisted Response (STAR), whose staff are trained to respond to persons suffering crises. Similar investments need to be spread throughout the Department of Housing Stability and programs in the Department of Public Safety that work to reduce the conditions that bring about interactions with law enforcement. I will advocate for constructive change to the way we address crime, medical conditions, incarceration, and restorative justice.

I advocate for a Denver that ensures all members of our community can live and thrive with the protection and support of social, physical, mental and economic well-being.

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