Denver International Airport may be teeming with security – and a long way from the inner city – but it draws its share of itinerant street dwellers. An eye-opening report by Denver’s 9News reveals that some of the metro area’s ever-present transients keep turning up in the world’s third-busiest air hub even though it’s far from their usual haunts.

As expected, some have been accused of harassing travelers, facing off with airport employees and even helping themselves to people’s luggage.

The TV station’s 9Wants to Know news feature reviewed court and police records and talked to some of those who use the airport’s bathrooms and other facilities as impromptu shelter and a haven where they can hang out and live their lifestyle. The newscast found that the number of times police engaged with the itinerants has nearly tripled since 2018, to 1,001 last year.

Many evidently arrive on RTD’s commuter rail A Line. Most leave the airport with a warning by authorities. When police are able to arrest them, it’s typically for trespassing, and there were at least 72 such arrests last year. Some were repeat offenders. 

One man had been sleeping at the airport for a couple of weeks. He said he could blend in, charge his phone and keep warm for a night while making plans for the next day, according to 9News. Another who spoke with the station’s news team had been arrested at DIA 17 times since 2020, flouting a judge’s court orders. He claimed he came to the airport because there was inadequate shelter space and he feared catching COVID in a shelter.

In reality, there’s no lack of shelter space in Denver. The drifters who make their way to the airport represent the same population of chronic street dwellers who insist on pitching tents, lean-tos and other makeshift dwellings in downtown Denver and, increasingly, in other parts of Denver and the metro area.

They routinely refuse ample shelter space and wide-ranging other services, like rehab, offered by an extensive network of public and private nonprofit providers. Many if not most of the itinerants are substance abusers; some suffer from mental illness.

Those who camp in and around Denver all too often are drunk and disorderly, engage in petty and sometimes serious crime, accost passersby and panhandle motorists. So, it’s no surprise 9News found at least some of the same behavior at DIA, including how some have “… been accused of getting into verbal altercations with airport employees and travelers and stealing bags.” You have to wonder if panhandling airline passengers will come next.

Police at the airport no doubt have their hands full amid wide-ranging demands for law enforcement. They so far seem to be able to move the trespassers along, which is reassuring. But what’s alarming is that the problem has reached the airport in the first place.

Critics blame Denver’s periodic crackdowns on the urban camps for pushing camp dwellers out to the airport. But Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen nailed it: “Hanging out at the airport is not going to get folks into that pipeline to that long-term sustainable housing.”

What those “folks” are looking for, unfortunately, is neither sustainable housing nor long-term employment. They just want a safe space – in which to perpetuate a destructive lifestyle. Maybe pilfer some goodies from concessionaires, snatch a suitcase and pester passengers for spare change. It’s a good thing police are on the job.

Denver Gazette editorial board