Two specialized units within the Colorado Springs Police Department, which for years have been patrolling concentrated areas of the city for issues pertaining to homelessness, have merged and been re-tasked, according to Lt. Ryan Tepley, who oversees the new Peak Station Unit.

The Homeless Outreach Team and the Downtown Area Response Team were combined on Feb. 1, he said. The resulting unit provides police coverage seven days a week over the entire city, in responding to and enforcing laws regarding illegal urban camping on public property, trespassing and other activities that often involve transients or chronically homeless people who live on the streets.

The HOT team had grown to eight police officers and one sergeant, who since its founding in 2009 have primarily focused on downtown and south of downtown near the city’s two main emergency homeless shelters and Dorchester and Acacia parks.

And six police officers and one sergeant were assigned to the DART team, which worked to maintain order, public safety and quality-of-life issues mostly in the downtown core and Old Colorado City shopping district.

“One of the things our agencies realized was that one of the top complaints from our citizens is the homeless camps and blight and trash that come from a lot of these camps,” Tepley said. “We were given the opportunity by the chief of what can we do to address the concerns of the citizens.”

Putting the teams together for a larger force of 14 officers and two sergeants seemed like a good answer, he said.

Police field at least 10 reports a day from residents through the city’s GoCOS app, where residents can report problems such as potholes, graffiti and homeless camps, according to Tepley. More complaints are called in and emailed in, he said.

Nearly two months in, Tepley said the restructuring is working to not only extend to all areas of the city but also staff two shifts to enable police presence in the downtown entertainment district from Wednesdays through Saturdays when nightclubs close at 2 a.m.

“Homelessness doesn’t go from Monday through Friday and having us available to address issues on weekends is critical,” he said.

Outreach workers from nonprofits such as Homeward Pikes Peak, which helps people get rehoused and offers addiction recovery programs, and Serenity Recovery Connection, which provides addiction recovery services with peer support, accompany police on many camp checks and calls to provide resources.

The internal change to the teams has been “cost neutral,” Tepley said. “We are not working any more hours, and we did not add anyone.”

Like other police response, cases are prioritized and responded to. In addition to those reported from the public, police on the Peak Station Unit routinely are visiting 50 known hot spots across the department’s four divisions for potential illegal activity such as urban camping. That includes trail systems.

“They’re quite literally all over the city,” Tepley said.

Some of the more prominent areas are Austin Bluffs Parkway and Academy Boulevard, the trails along Woodmen Road west of Interstate 25 and southwest of downtown along South Nevada Avenue and South Tejon Street.

There are multiple efforts to assist street people. The Colorado Springs Fire Department also dispatches a team under its Homeless Outreach Program.

As the police’s Downtown Area Response Team has changed its model and no longer focuses on walking the shopping districts, the Clean & Safe pilot program of the Downtown Partnership, which launched last summer, continues its work.

That initiative provides private security on downtown streets, a dedicated outreach team to help homeless people locate resources such as emergency shelters and mental health providers, and ambassadors who assist residents and tourists. Workers also alert police as needed for potential criminal activity.

Vehicle camping on public property in city limits officially became illegal on Tuesday, Tepley said, and officers now are allowed to issue citations for violations. Colorado Springs City Council approved on March 10 a proposal to ban car camping and streamline all camping ordinances.

“It creates more consistency for officers writing the citation and can be more easily understood for people receiving the citation,” he said.

Last year, Colorado Springs police fielded 1,692 homeless camp cleanup requests and posted warnings of impending cleanups at 2,323 illegal campsites, statistics show.

Police also issued 657 warnings of municipal violations, 131 summonses for camping in parks, 539 citations for camping on public property, 293 tickets for camping within 100 feet of streams and 736 citations for trespassing by camping on private property.

They gave out 41 summonses for unlawful fires and made contact with 138 vehicle camps.

Officers addressed a total of 3,052 misdemeanors and felonies.

Police also offered outreach services to 1,024 homeless people in 2025. Of those, 646 people rejected any services.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with the correct spelling of Lt. Ryan Tepley’s name.