Kiwanis Club of Aurora member Amy Roth, left, hands a Kiwanis coffee mug to Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman at the Kiwanis Club meeting Tuesday at the Prisco Center in Aurora. Chief Ziman shared this year’s Police Department initiatives.
Aurora has the second largest municipal police department with a budget of $73 Million and has 301 sworn officers, an increase from 289 recently, including four police dogs, 73 full-time non-sworn officers in telecommunications, booking, and records, and 33 part-time non-sworn employees.
Chief Ziman said work is in focus to address a slight increase in violent part 1 crimes, although shootings are down by 19%. Shooting numbers include property and are not just individuals struck. Aurora had zero homicides in 2012 and four homicides in 2018. She said in a city the size of Aurora, it’s well below the national average.
Progress in 2018 included the addition of a Critical Incident Intel Center, reduction in time and cost of DUI prosecution, addition of a drone team, partnership with National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, which reads a bullet shell casing and recently was linked to eight shootings after confiscation of a gun. Partnership with RING doorbell systems for video of crimes has been added. Last year there were only five excessive-force complaints against officers with two sustained.
Chief Ziman said the goals for this year remain the same, to reduce violent crime and community engagement. Right is Kiwanis president Kim Groom, a retired Aurora police officer, and president of Kiwanis Club of Aurora. Jason Crane/The Voice
