Partnerships between law enforcement create safer communities. There is no more relevant and timelier example of collaborative teamwork than a 10-day operation that happened in Jefferson County known as Operation Gateway Sweep.
For this operation, the Wheat Ridge Police Department teamed up with other police departments, including Lakewood, Arvada, Golden and the U.S. Marshals Service. Together with the Colorado Violent Offender Task Force (COVOTF), a multi-jurisdictional fugitive task force that targets the most violent offenders to include those wanted for murder, assault, sex offenses, and other serious offenses throughout the state and country, these agencies provided results.
Operation Gateway Sweep began April 6 and concluded April 17. COVOTF teams in the Denver metro area began with a list of 30 fugitives, wanted on felony warrants for violent crimes between the four cities. The teams also apprehended multiple fugitives wanted by outside jurisdictions who were either located in Jefferson County or had violent criminal history or recent ties or residency in Jefferson County.
During the operation, a total of 24 arrests were made by the COVOTF teams. Three additional fugitives were located already in custody in other jurisdictions and one subject on the initial list was arrested by Arvada P.D. patrol units. In total, 39 felony arrest warrants and 15 misdemeanor warrants were cleared as part of the operation.
“In this day and age with sometimes limited resources, this is a force multiplier,” said WRPD Division Chief Shawn Wray. “To get our folks working together in situations like this also has benefits so they can get to know each other. In the event we have some kind of major incident, now we know each other, we work together, we know each other’s best practices. So appreciative of operations like this.”
This partnership gave Wheat Ridge officers rare experience and resources to make the community and the larger Jefferson County area safer by taking these violent offenders off the streets. Moving forward, the department’s Crime Prevention Team may seek to collaborate with the U.S. Marshalls on more future operations.
