A Denver mother recently took matters into her own hands and recovered her own stolen car after a Denver police dispatcher told her that no officers were available to assist her.
According to KDVR Fox News, Holley Kaufman walked out of work Monday afternoon and noticed her car was gone.
“In the past, I’ve had a vehicle stolen and they rip out your whole car, tear everything up, try to live in it, and put drugs in it,” Kaufman said. “Well, this is a car that I carry my 4-year-old son in, so I’m like, ‘This not happening in my car.’”
Kaufman said she continuously set the car alarm off remotely and then used her GPS tracker to locate her car parked at a nearby Safeway parking lot. Kaufman got someone she knew to drive her there and called 911 and was connected to a dispatcher.
FOX 31 also posted their story on X, formerly Twitter, and added that the dispatcher told her that no officers were available to help her, so Kaufman said, ‘OK, this is the address I’m going to be at, I’m going to be there in five minutes, and you can either meet me or I’ll be getting my car.’”
Denver car theft victim takes matters into their own hands https://t.co/gJpNgHSy5V pic.twitter.com/Y0qD0LI0Fg
— FOX31 Denver KDVR (@KDVR) March 27, 2024
Kaufman found her car and the thief was not inside. She found a pipe, alcohol and receipts from returns made that morning inside, which she told FOX31 she gave to police.
Additional reporting in the Post Millennial said the Denver Police Department warned against citizens taking matters into their own hands because it may be risky to confront the thieves.
Rather, the department advised citizens to register their vehicle with the DenverTrack program if a GPS tracker was enabled, which would aid law enforcement in finding it more quickly in the case of a theft.
Denver has recently fallen from one of the top cities in the U.S. News and World Report annual rankings of best cities to live in the country to 55, in big part from the rise in violent crime.
An audit released in June 2023 by the Denver Auditor’s Office said the Denver Police Department lacks effective policies for community policing and has struggled to address low retention and recruitment efforts. The audit found that in March 2022, the department had only 1,364 officers, 100 fewer than budgeted for. DPD typically loses between 70 to 80 officers a year, but in 2021, the department lost 165 including 65 through retirement.
