1,189 Cases Downgraded In Denver Cop Reports: Audit

DENVER, CO -- The Denver Police Department reclassified almost 700 crimes as "serious" as a result of an audit of more than 1,100 crime reports that were incorrectly classified, the department announced Thursday.

Denver Police Chief Robert White requested an internal investigation of crime data Jan. 12, after some year-end numbers appeared inconsistent.

The data audit revealed that in 2016 and 2017, a total of 1,189 cases, which is less than 1 percent of all crimes, were changed from crime reports to “letters to detective,” the department said in a statement. Letters to detectives are internal reports of incidents that are not criminal, but are still investigated by detectives, and do not count as crimes by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Of the 1,189 changed reports, 699 were determined to be bonafide crimes and should not have been changed, the department said.

The department reclassified those 699 cases as crimes and will send corrected data to CBI within the next week, they said.

Brian Maass of CBS4 identified the districts filing downgraded reports as District One in northwest Denver and District Three in southeast Denver.

The department said an internal investigation is still continuing to find out how the downgrading happened and make sure it doesn't happen again.

Image Robert White, via Denver Police Dept.