As discussions over police violence continue throughout the nation, two Denver-area police departments have been reported as using force against Black people at a higher rate than other races. 

A report by The Denver Post found that nearly half — 47% — of those who Aurora police officers struck, tackled, pepper sprayed, tased or shot in 2019 were Black, even while Black individuals make up only 16% of the city’s population. The Post found that white individuals, who make up 45% of the population, saw only 35% of the total use of force incidents. 

In Denver, the numbers are similar. Black people make up 27% of the 1,191 people who Denver police used force against. In Denver, only 10% of the population is Black. 

These statistics come as no surprise to the Black community in Colorado. 

“There are national protests because of what happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis,” Omar Montgomery, president of the Aurora branch of the NAACP, told The Post. “Why? Because what happened to him mirrors the experience of Black people nationwide.”

The findings, though, are not new, The Post reported. Use of force against Black people in Aurora has hovered around 38% and 53% since 2014; percentages that are consistently disproportionate to the Black population of the city. While the department’s annual use of force reports include this data, The Post notes only one report mentions the discrepancy, very briefly. 

“It is interesting to note that with the exception of African American/Black, the remaining racial groups were within 16 percentage points of the city’s population,” stated a report analyzing data from October 2015 through September 2016. The report offered no further analysis.

In Denver, Black people have represented between 26% and 30% of the population whom police used force against since at least 2016, The Post reports. 

Denver police Chief Paul Pazen told The Post his officers are most often responding to calls for service and reported crimes, and this dictates the people whom officers interact with. However he would not answer questions specifically about the racial demographic data. 

“Our objective is to reduce use of force all the way around. It’s not only good for our community but it’s good for our officers,” Pazen told The Post. “It is something that we look at. It is something that we want to improve upon on all areas and levels.”

Distrust of the police has risen due to these incidents, and part of the solution for rebuilding trust comes from appropriate discipline, said Al Gardner, chair of Denver’s Citizen Oversight Board.

The Post reports that of 1,314 documented uses of force in Aurora last year, only three officers were ordered to take corrective action or additional training, five officers were sent to counseling and six were sent to internal affairs. The rest, however, were found to be compliant with policy.