 So good afternoon. I'm David Kenyona is on the deputy chief of operation for the Denver police department I was asked to speak about an incident that was captured on video on the 16th Street Mall last night at 16th and Cleveland And what we know about this incident so far is we had a an individual who was caught on video assaulting Several individuals with what appears to be some kind of a pipe We have one victim as a result of that the very first people that were actually assaulted Did not come forward did not remain on scene and we would like to speak to them if they are still Still around and they want to file a report We would like to speak to him if anybody else has any additional video or information related to that assault The detectives the investigators would like to speak to them as well so that we can present the case to To the district attorney and get the charges filed as appropriate this individual what we know of him is actually New to town he's he hasn't been in town more than more than a week He he by all appearances. We we think he's he's homeless. He had some Issues last night. We don't know if they are mental health issues or if they are drug related issues, but he was very Incoherent with us He he did not resist the officers. He was taken into custody without incident We actually suspect that he was involved in multiple incidents prior to this for about 40 minutes We received four calls that he fisted the description of that officers were responding to In the downtown area before we finally caught up to him at the 16th in Cleveland where he was taken in the custody We are again. We are looking at aggravated assault charges second-grade assault charges on the on the individual He he did create another disturbance when we took him into custody and turned him over to the sheriff's department So this is the type of behavior that we are addressing on the mall This is the type of behavior that we have said repeatedly will not be tolerated on the mall He was taken in the custody three minutes after the officers received that call to 16th in Cleveland We are I spoke with the detective prior to coming here. He like I said, he's been here for about nine days She had a record of some assaults, but we don't have an in-depth record We haven't gone to the state that he is from let me make a little quick statements before we go into Q&A And we can try to answer everyone's questions And I want to thank chief Q for for coming in to I should say key onus Those of us work with him every day For coming in and giving us the the information about the the individual we're dealing with but he is absolutely correct This is the type of behavior and the type of individual that we've been seeing in downtown Denver These are travelers to our city Carpe bagger travelers who come here primarily to engage in the The hanging out on our mall and and to do other things in this city and it's We're dealing them with them as best we can It's because we had the number of officers downtown as we were beginning to ramp up that they were able to get to This location within three minutes and it's unfortunate that this gentleman was able to get a couple swings on individuals Are a few swings before the police arrived But it's because we had the number of officers there that they were able to Get to them within three minutes. Let me also say this As per the conversation I had this week and made very clear that we're going to take this very seriously We're going to have zero tolerance for this type of behavior on our mall I've instructed the city attorney's office to request to the district attorney's office because this is a state case To request as part of the prosecution air restrictions on this individual from the downtown area and the mall And so we'll do everything we can Hopefully in partnership with the district attorney to to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law as well as to put in those Are restrictions and again begin the process of keeping the folks who are on our mall in our downtown area safe So again, I won't thank you all for coming I certainly want to thank the police department for responding as quickly Let me make one last point and then we'll do Q&A a lot of people witnessed what happened yesterday And as chief Keona's pointed out We still need to talk with every way every one of the witnesses and again anyone else who may have been Victimized or our witness this gentleman who may have been involved and up to four other incidents in downtown Denver Not necessarily a mall, but around downtown area We want to hear from you if you saw something, please Contact us so that we can get to make sure that we prosecute this individual to the fullest extent of law for every Incident that he was involved with yesterday. Let's do a question answer now Obviously you never want these kind of images Because they become reality in people's minds and those of us who live here We know there are challenges along the mall by but by no means whatsoever Do we promote or believe that the images that are being portrayed in these videos? Or what Denver is about our the lifestyle of our city as we are expecting this weekend a very Expecting record-breaking tourism this weekend goes to show you that people see Denver as a destination They recognize that it is one of the safest places in the country. You can visit That's the true image of Denver these incidents are not Denver And that's why we're moving quickly to make sure we deal with them effectively and that they don't continue to occur in our City You better believe we're also we won't continue to pursue every possible avenue and we do have civil liberties of every individual who wants to Walk them down that mall. We've asked a lot of ourselves a lot of questions. There have been a lot of Supreme Court decisions a lot of court cases in which to point to the reality Whatever we get an opportunity where we can create or tighten the restrictions or tighten The possibility of making sure these don't happen again on our mall. We will Right right Well, I think you just went straight to the heart of the realities is that it's not practical to believe you're going to stop every Incident in this city or even on a concentrated area like the mall. It's a one-mile stretch and Unless we put Two or three hundred officers along the way You'll never be able to prevent every possible incident occurring along that mall and here's a reality This is not just a policing your way out of the situation. It's going to take at chief white I think appropriately pointed out the the building owners or property owners along the mall Participating making sure people aren't leaning on their properties Working with us to clean up areas, you know We're going to continue to work with that McDonald's but that area around that McDonald's has been a problem And we need McDonald's to step up and to be a partner with us on this and to You know not feed people who are not purchasing their products and to ask people to move along who may be leaning and resting on Their building but that's the kind of comprehensive approach that we're going to need We're going to need folks who are watching and witnessing these things to call right away and to try to keep each other safe As much as we possibly can it's going to take an entire community response We can't just arrest our way out of this. We're all are going to have to be involved I know that's what the chief was talking about that earlier this week Lance They appear to be just random victims at this time. They there was no confrontation between them The I can't get into specifics of the other incident we're investigating because we still do need to to get this victim to to look at a photo array and But we just suspect he was just randomly running around acting acting up Like I said, we suspect that there's four disturbances that he was involved in that officers were responding to at that time So the time frame started at about the 523 and then we took him to custody at 610 So but within about a four to five block area. He appears to have been just causing disturbances Altercations with individuals the only assaults that we're aware of are the two that we are investigating The first two we were we just had calls from citizens, which as the mayor said and as the chief has said We need people to call so we can respond to these but we did not contact any any victims at those other two scenes He was just creating the disturbances we were responding to disturbances at Two other locations besides the two that were aware of they just came in a guy acting up I haven't listened to the calls, but but there were two other locations that we were dispatching officers to We we will probably not look into what the What the intoxicants he was under these are these are just based on comments that he made to the arresting officers Let's say let's be clear marijuana strong people to them all the travelers are coming They're very clear and I can tell you this because I have to talk to the travelers Last year chief White and I went to a circle of them asked them where they were from They were probably about 12 of them there not one of them was from Denver or from the state of Colorado They hitchhiked or top trains to get here and when we asked them why did you come? It was very clear to they were very candid with us. They came here for marijuana and so this is one of the the results of The legal marijuana industry in Denver and we're gonna have to deal with it And these are some of the unintended consequences and the things that we were very serious about when I said Two years ago or two and a half years ago about marijuana becoming legal We don't know what it means and will is too early to tell how it will impact our communities But we made a commitment and that commitment was our job is to protect the citizens of Denver the neighborhoods and our Children of this city and we're gonna do everything we can to do that But we are certainly seeing urban travelers in this city And I in my meeting with the police department just what was last week when I had commanders and lieutenants with you know Then across the city there they estimate they're as many as 150 travelers in this city today And they don't have a place to stay they're in our parks. We're seeing them at Commons Park Confluence Park Throughout the city. They're here. They some of them are panhandling during the day. They're going in and out of our shelters And they're taking beds from our legitimately chronically homeless individuals And they are they're partaking in the industry So there's no need for me to pass it a day We're candid with me about why they were here and so we know it's a challenge and I don't think it's an indictment on the industry It's an indictment on the fact that we this became a legal substance in our community and people are coming as a result of it I think you heard you heard the chief at make a request Particularly those are in downtown area not to sell joints individually But you know, I'm sure as the industry has in the past They want to come to the table and if there's anything they can do to help this issue and we'll certainly reach out to them But if there's anything they can do, I'm sure they'll come to the table to help us The answer that question is more appropriately answered by downtown Denver partnership. I know they won't have the authority to arrest But I would talk to them directly because they will fall under their Responsibility, you know, that's that's a difficult question to ask for private security Obviously any citizen can make a citizen's arrest if they so choose the you don't want to some Some organizations Private security do not advocate their people getting involved in physical altercations for liability issues But there will be more eyes and ears out there for us. We will work cooperatively with them We are working with the bid on on on their selection process so that it is a Legitimate organization that that we can work closely with it's it's going to put more more people out there That's going to help us accomplish our mission of making them all even safer than what it is It is a it is a crime and in the real world they have their their own police Obviously until they get here, we don't we don't know how they got here There's multiple ways for them to get here, but we we do work closely with Burlington, Northern We we have trespass agreements with them if people are on their property We can assist them without them being there so we do work closely with the with the railroad police So in the center of the Denver We have had problems with Visitors who come here not only to visit but to break the law and the message we want to say is that we are not going to Let them do that Two days have passed and if they had our officers there, but this Persona Lo que hizo hizo muy rápido su servidor el video pasó muy rápido y lo arrestamos en tres minutos de lo que pasó eso pero no podemos poner en oficial en todos los bloques El vene nos no es de Colorado, no más tiene nueve días que está aquí no tiene donde vivir está en las callas y tiene problemas con con drogas y Posiblemente otros problemas que No they've been partners and it we now have kind of a I think the chief laid it out I know the chief laid it out more specifically the things we need them to do downtown So the businesses along the mall have been involved have asked for our assistance and we've asked For their assistance, so it's a partnership and the downtown Denver partnership has remained a partner with us as well So the reality is that there is a partnership in place. They now know specifically from the city What will help us help them to make sure that everyone remains safe and that it is a Hospital hospitable Comfortable environment for everyone downtown last question and you had a follow-up Okay, last one then we'll go I got And like like the mayor said that that's a question that's more appropriate for for the the business improvement district Who is going to do the hiring because they will be responsible to them But we are working with them and and the individual that they hired to to be the security director To identify the right company we we will sit in on the on the interview process We will be part of the RFP review for them to get the right people out there I fully anticipate they would hire a good company that we can work with and what we're looking for our partners partners to be out There when when when we can't be on every block as the mayor said they can we will have communication with them However, that is is Rolled out. We will have communication with them. They can they can tell us I think if you have people Just like the police on the same blocks the same times same days They get to know what belongs what doesn't belong They'll be they'll learn when they need to report it to us and when it's something that they can handle And we there's very good companies out there that we can work with and I and I anticipate they'll hire the right one