DENVER — The City of Denver is issuing new guidance for lighting in paid parking lots as a solution to reduce criminal activity in downtown areas.
Eric Escudero, who represents the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses, emphasized the importance of promoting a lively and safe environment in Denver.
To improve safety, the city is collaborating with the Denver Police Department to develop rules mandating the installation of LED lights in parking lots.
In Denver, the majority of the 212 paid parking lots are situated in the downtown region. According to the Denver Police Department, there have been 744 reported thefts in downtown parking lots and garages so far this year.
“We would often get referrals from locations that were seeing an increased number of crimes, such as theft or other crimes, to go out and do an assessment [and] provide recommendations on how to reduce crime in that area,” said Kayla Nabe, a DPD community resource officers who looked into the issue earlier this year.
That assessment found improper lighting led to higher crime rates.
“Unfortunately, in some licensed parking lots in Denver, there are those shadows. There are those dark spots. This really is a win-win for the business community [and] the parking operators because they want their parking lots to be safe,” Escudero said.
Parking lots with sodium vapor lights — those dull yellowish lights you may have seen — are part of the problem, according to DPD.
“We’re just really hoping that by improving the lighting in the parking lots in some of our most densely populated areas in the downtown area, specifically, that we’re going to be able to further reduce those crimes that are occurring,” said Nabe.
The next step is education and outreach for more than 200 parking lot operators across the city. Officials said there won’t be fines in the beginning stages, but there will be enforcement.
“If we get cases where we see high crime areas where parking operators are not making the upgrades necessary, that could result in them losing their license or being issued fines by the city,” said Escudero.
It’s a small step the city hopes could make a big difference in downtown safety.
“When you have a simple solution to a complex problem like crime, just improving lighting, that’s a step we’re eager to take,” said Escudero.
