DENVER (KDVR) — Crime statistics say little has changed at Denver’s Union Station since the transportation union alerted the city about conditions there.
The neighborhood’s violent crimes and drug and alcohol crimes have not dropped in the time since RTD officials say they began a concentrated effort with law enforcement, TSA and its VIPR team, the Guardian Angels and the Denver Police Department. December’s drug and alcohol crimes went up from the previous month, and violent crimes kept pace with the average.
The Union Station neighborhood has 70 drug and alcohol offenses in December — nearly twice the number from November 2021. In the first 12 days of January, there have been 25.
Violent crimes in the Union Station neighborhood went up, too. There were 20 in December, up from 16 in November.
Public scrutiny turned toward conditions at Union Station in early December after a transit worker posted cell phone video of open drug use in the terminal itself. The Amalgamated Transit Union called for RTD officials to make it safe for their workers.
Initially, the focus seemed to work. FOX31 reporters revisited Union Station Dec. 21 and found much cleaner conditions. These conditions, though, did not last into the new year. RTD drivers alerted FOX31 this week to Union Station conditions that, if anything, were worse than they were in December.