 This might be my favorite cross avail of the whole year, right? I mean, normally we're in here talking about much different topics. But again, what a great time to be a Colorado Avalanche fan. Not only for our team, the city's team, but also the people of Colorado and we're so close, this is exciting. What we are here today to talk about is how to celebrate responsibly. And some important lessons that we want to communicate to our fellow AVS fans. And that is to stay out of the penalty box, right? We can do this. We've been here before. We've won the Cup before. We've won championships before. And the best way to do that is to stay classy and show our support for our team and do it in a responsible way. We are very much looking forward to celebrating together. We've done that already with these past games, three wins, one loss. We've had thousands of people downtown and they've really shown the right way to celebrate. And we just want to encourage that as the AVS work to bring home the Cup. Really, some of the reminders are that we don't want to over-consume, whether that's alcohol and or legal marijuana. We want to make sure that folks are getting to and from safely in today's day and age. You certainly can do that with rideshare designated rides. Public transportation, but one key aspect to celebrating responsible is to make sure that we're not driving impaired. So let's all make sure that we have a plan to address this. Again, we are very much looking forward to tomorrow's game. But we remind folks not only to celebrate responsibly but to celebrate in a lawful manner. We have been here before. Let's show folks that we know how to do this. In a large gatherings, we are always reminded that we see something suspicious, that we say something. Again, safety in all aspects of these gatherings is something that we cannot lose sight of, so we want to encourage folks if they see something that just doesn't look right to let us know along those lines. The Denver Police Department with our local, state and federal partners will have lots of resources in order to ensure safety for Friday night's game throughout the Denver area. And we can only do that in partnership with our local, state and federal law enforcement, fire department and other emergency services. So looking forward to that. We have partnered with the Colorado Avalanche. There's some local officials, the governor as well that are reminding folks, encouraging folks to celebrate responsibly. And I believe we've been able to send y'all a copy of the link. We would ask that folks share that. The Colorado Avalanche will be sharing these clips, reminding folks about celebrating responsibly at their watch parties. And we're very thankful for that as well. With that, without rehashing all of the points on this, let's act like we've been here before because we have. Let's make sure that we show people how it's done here in Denver and celebrate responsibly. We'll open it up for questions for folks. So when we last won in 2016, what did DPD get right? Well, first you describe what it was like the celebrations after the Broncos won. And so what did DPD get right in that year in responding to the celebrations and dealing with them and what did DPD get wrong maybe? And there's some lessons learned in that. Excellent question. We always take a look at responses and if there are lessons learned, how we can improve. It was just a few years ago that we were celebrating a Broncos win, Super Bowl 50. And I think that the fans, the fans of Denver, the fans of Colorado showed exactly what it meant to be a Bronco fan, a responsible Bronco fan. And we can do it. We've demonstrated that we can do it. This is a proactive message to our community that we can do this responsibly. We could do it safely. We can stay out of the penalty box. We can show the country that we know how to celebrate. And that's what we're asking for here. So great point, but I also want to give credit to the Colorado Avalanche Bands. We've had four games, three wins. We've had a great season already. And the fans of Colorado have demonstrated that they know how to do this the right way. And we want to continue down that path. Any lessons learned from the Broncos celebration? Well, again, doing this together is the lesson learned. Doing it as a community, that this is a community response. And I think that Super Bowl 50 just a couple years ago, we were very visible. We went through a large event with MLB All-Star game. And this shows what fans coming together doing it the right way, how we can make sure that there's safety across the metro area. Safety for the individual who's not over-consuming and driving impaired and causing harm to folks, as well as safety for our community. So with your help with Colorado Avalanche fans, help, I'm confident that we can do the same. Chief, the last two times, the first two times of the year, one of the couple, they did not go very well here in 1906 and 1901. Can you tell us what you remember about those nights and are you concerned that that could happen again? Well, I believe in the fans of the Colorado Avalanche that together we're going to make sure that this is a safe environment for all that we can celebrate responsibly, that we can have fun, that we can do it in a lawful manner. And that we want everybody to stay out of the penalty box and we're excited to work in partnership with our local fans, as with the Colorado Avalanche that have demonstrated the same thing. They want our fans to celebrate responsibly. So we certainly remember past events and we will continue to work to try to ensure the safety of our community as we bring home the cup. So in the last few years, since the Colorado Avalanche last one, this is the Avalanche one of the first two, the rules of engagement for your department have changed in terms of where you respond to protesters in terms of less than lethal weapons. Do you think that will in any way affect your response? Or are you confident that your officers are aware of these changes? I'm very confident in our team, our local, state and federal partners. We've worked very hard to make sure that we do things in the safest manner possible. Additional training has taken place as well. I think that most recently with the All-Star game, that we as Coloradans can all come together and show that we can host a world stage in a very positive way. So I'm confident that the people of Colorado that are fans will act responsibly and lawfully and we're going to have a good time. And that your officers don't seem to know what they can do and what they can't do? Yes. You can't believe for tomorrow? Well, we don't really get into our staffing plans for obvious reasons here, but we will have plenty of resources. We will again lean on our partners. They've been great to help us. This is a monumental lift, right? You're talking about 40,000 additional fans, folks, 20,000 at the Pepsi Center, the watch parties at Tivoli and McGregor Square. So there'll be a lot of folks. Actually, along those lines, right, we also want to remind folks that there may be limited access to downtown afterwards. Our focus, similar to, let's say, a Bronco game, is egress, getting traffic out of the area. And so similarly, we may have limited access in. We will obviously allow for residents coming back, but there may be limited access at the end of a possible victory as far as, and the purpose being to help the egress of these tens of thousands of folks getting out. Very similar to our traffic plan for a Broncos game. So thanks for bringing up that point. Chief, is it fair to say that there's going to be increased patrol around downtown Denver, additional officers, can you say how many? So it's fair to say that there'll be a significant amount of emergency responders. So this is not just the police department, but our local state and federal partners as well as our entire public safety team. So this is a collaboration necessary, but you will see increased numbers of emergency responders in the downtown area working together to try to keep the safety here in our city. Yes, I'm sorry about that. Go ahead. I can imagine that there's gotta be some security measures around making sure that the pedestrian paths and making sure that bad actors wouldn't be able to use the car to get to a place where they're not supposed to. I can imagine that might affect traffic patterns. What should we know about those? Excellent point. Obviously, pedestrians and vehicles are not a good mix for the pedestrian. So part of our traffic safety plan is to try to keep our entire community safe. And so as indicated, there may be limited access as we work to get thousands of vehicles out of downtown at the end of a game. So we just ask for patience from our community and some understanding that they know that there may be limited access and that it's done for a good reason, both safety of our community or pedestrians as well as a focus on the egress, getting folks out who wanna get home after a game. And for people that want to celebrate in Denver safely, but I'm imagining you've seen the headlines, I've seen the headlines, I've seen the criticism from different political parties. I mean, what would you tell them about, feeling safe celebrating in Denver versus some of the things they've probably heard? Well, a few things. We're gonna be working tirelessly in a collective approach with local, state, federal partners to make sure that we're doing everything possible to keep our community safe, to give folks the opportunity to celebrate responsibly and to celebrate lawfully. And that's what we're encouraging and we're stepping up our efforts, dedicating a lot of resources in order to do that. So we're excited about this. We're very excited about it. This is an opportunity that's been too many years in the making. It's been too long since the AFS brought the cup home. But I'm excited for this opportunity that we in Denver, we in Colorado can show folks how to do it. We've done it before. We've done it recently with Super Bowl 50 and we're gonna do everything possible to replicate that type of success. Yes, sir? I was asking a question about 1960, 2001. I'm just curious if you were on duty either of those nights or maybe it just started in 1995. So if you were on duty, do you have any recollections specifically of the celebrations after which you were on duty? Well, so are you saying that I'm old? No, I'm too cute. No, okay, we're old together because I certainly feel old. You know, really the bottom line is we consider ourselves a learning organization. You have to review each of these incidents. You have to review incidences that take place outside your city, outside your state and how we can do the best job possible as far as keeping our community safe. And to the earlier questions, we've done additional training on this. We've been planning for this and we will do everything possible to help our community celebrate, hopefully a Colorado Avalanche win on Friday night to bring that cup home where it belongs. What we're asking the community to do is celebrate responsibly and lawfully and there won't be any problems. So please help us get out the word. The Avalanche have indicated this is how they want to celebrate this type of celebration or this type of championship. And we're excited that we get to partner with them to help us keep the community safe. Did you work with those? I've been around. I just hear about that. Yes, yes. I'm just wondering if you have any memories of those. You're on memories of those, right? I'm, yes, I do. Can you? I did not think that was a tough question. You didn't think that's a tough question? Well, I think that we've answered it. We've all, the two of us have been around a long time and I'm confident in the planning that our team has done. I'm confident in the team that's been put together with local, state and federal partners. And I'm excited that we get to celebrate together and we're just reminding folks to do it in a responsible and lawful manner so that way they can keep themselves safe and they can show the rest of the world that Denver can stay classy. Gene, do you want to make a prediction for the game tomorrow night? We just want to win, no matter what. We just want to Colorado Avalanche win. It'll be great for our city. It'll be great for the entire state. What do you predict we want? We're hopeful, very hopeful. Superstitions, right? Aren't there a bunch of superstitions in hockey? So this might sound a little silly, but I've seen other cities do it. We thought about greasing up the light poles around Denver so we don't climb up them. You know, we have paid attention to what plenty of other cities have done as well, so without giving away any specific tactics. This is actually the help that we're asking you, right? If we can remind our community to stay classy. I mean, act like we've been here before because we have. This hopefully will be the third Stanley Cup. And you know, we can show the fact that these are championship fans that we don't need to do silly things, that we can act in a reasonable, responsible, and lawful manner. And that's what I'm excited about. And I think the people of Colorado will show that with the future Avalanche win. I know there's been some issues with vacancies. Is that impacting the game plan at all? For situations like this where you know you're gonna need a lot of officers on the streets? You know, staffing is a challenge for law enforcement agencies across the country. We're no different in that particular area, but this is where leaning on the partners, figuring out different staffing plans in order to maximize and ensure that we have enough coverage. And I'm very confident in the plan. We do have enough resources to address this. Is this gonna result in additional overtime for the department's budget? Yes. How much? That's yet to be determined. How, when will you know that? At the conclusion of the Stanley Cup, because obviously there may be additional gains if the Avalanche don't win on Friday night. Does all this become moot if the lightning went at seven? Don't put that in the universe. Are you kidding me? Maybe it's the reverse janks. Well, again, there's too many superstitions in hockey and we don't even wanna say that out loud. So take it back. Roll that one back. Great. Thank you all so much for your help in this. Again, the people of Denver, the people of Colorado know how to do this. They know how to do this right. They've demonstrated that. We wanna make sure that folks stay out of the penalty box, that they celebrate responsibly and lawfully and really cheer on our Colorado Avalanches as they bring the cup back to Denver where it belongs.