Police Foundation Of
Colorado Springs
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The Foundation was established by business and civic leaders as an independent, non-profit organization to strengthen the services of the Colorado Springs Police Department.
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Welcome to the Website of Police Foundation of Colorado Springs. The Police Foundation’s mission is to strengthen the services of the Colorado Springs Police Department, while promoting excellence in the department and improving public safety by providing resources not otherwise available from the City.
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To build effective partnerships that support the Colorado Springs Police Department and our local community.
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To strengthen the services of the Colorado Springs Police Department, promote excellence within the department, and improve public safety for the city of Colorado Springs.
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If you would like to support the Police Foundation of Colorado Springs create a safer community, please visit our donations page to make a tax-deductible donation.
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Remembering Don Ward
Don Ward and Dianne Derby, Medal of Valor emcees
Police Foundation of Colorado Springs was shocked and saddened by the news of the passing of Don Ward, longtime news anchor at KKTV in Colorado Springs. For the past nine years, Don and his co-anchor, Dianne Derby, emceed the Foundation’s Medal of Valor Luncheon.
“Don was a true professional and an exceptional emcee for our Medal of Valor program,” said Kyle Hybl, PFCS chairman. “Don’s support for our organization and for local law enforcement was heartfelt and steadfast. We will miss his presence, his warmth, and his friendship. Our community, and our organization, has lost a true partner and a consummate news professional.”
"Don was a true professional and an exceptional emcee for our Medal of Valor program..."
“Don was a true professional and an exceptional emcee for our Medal of Valor program,” said Kyle Hybl, PFCS chairman. “Don’s support for our organization and for local law enforcement was heartfelt and steadfast. We will miss his presence, his warmth, and his friendship. Our community, and our organization, has lost a true partner and a consummate news professional.”
"Don was a true professional and an exceptional emcee for our Medal of Valor program..."
A note about the COVID-19 pandemic from CSPD Chief Vince Niski
Colorado Springs Police Chief Vince Niski sent the following note the the Police Foundation's board of directors in late May 2020. He granted the Foundation permission to share it with our followers and supporters.
I would like to provide a brief update on how CSPD is doing during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have made a few adjustments to how we respond to some categories of calls for service and we have allowed our non-essential personnel the opportunity to work from home but other than that we have been conducting business as usual. I am extremely proud of all our sworn and civilian employees’ dedication to serving our community even during these challenging times. As a command staff, we have tried our best to be open, transparent and timely with our messages to the organization. We have taken steps to protect our employees by providing them personal protective equipment and we have given them guidelines on when the PPE is required to be worn. We have been very fortunate that to date we have not had an employee with a positive COVID test.
The pandemic has really forced us to look at our operations to determine the safest way we can conduct day to day activities while keeping both the community and our employees safe and healthy. We adjusted our approach on traffic stops and produced a video so the community would know what to expect. When appropriate, officers are answering more calls for service over the phone rather than in person. Our Community Relations Unit started conducting presentations and meetings online. One of our biggest accomplishments was to devise a plan to conduct our Recruit class training online while following the Colorado Peace Officer Standards and Training requirements. Our training academy staff along with our tech team came up with a way that the instructor can see all 34 recruits on two television screens as they teach the class, who are at home. While I was skeptical we could make it happen, they achieved the impossible in a short period of time.
We have seen a slight decrease in calls for service over the last two months but a couple crime categories have increased. We have seen an increase in business burglaries and burglarized motor vehicles. We still have proactive resources trying to combat these crimes. Traffic safety has remained one of our top priorities throughout the last five months. During the pandemic, we have seen an increase in speeding complaints. It appears people think they can speed when there are less vehicles on the roadways. We continue to conduct enforcement, when we can catch up to the violator. Please know we are still out there protecting our community the best we can.
It's fair to say the main item on employees’ minds is the economy and its impact on the City’s budget. We already made cuts to our budget back in April but that did not impact operations. We took money from training, overtime and other areas where it wouldn’t impact our service to the community. We are waiting to see what the April revenue will be for the City before any predictions are made for the future. The biggest concern is the possibility of furloughs or pay reductions. The City is working with us to limit the impact to employees if that does occur. I am hopeful the Federal stimulus money the City received will give us enough to prevent pay reductions.
Thank you all for your continued support of the Department and our employees. I look forward to the time we can meet in person again. If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know and I will provide you answers.
I hope you, your families and your staff are all staying safe and healthy.
Take care.
Vince
I would like to provide a brief update on how CSPD is doing during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have made a few adjustments to how we respond to some categories of calls for service and we have allowed our non-essential personnel the opportunity to work from home but other than that we have been conducting business as usual. I am extremely proud of all our sworn and civilian employees’ dedication to serving our community even during these challenging times. As a command staff, we have tried our best to be open, transparent and timely with our messages to the organization. We have taken steps to protect our employees by providing them personal protective equipment and we have given them guidelines on when the PPE is required to be worn. We have been very fortunate that to date we have not had an employee with a positive COVID test.
The pandemic has really forced us to look at our operations to determine the safest way we can conduct day to day activities while keeping both the community and our employees safe and healthy. We adjusted our approach on traffic stops and produced a video so the community would know what to expect. When appropriate, officers are answering more calls for service over the phone rather than in person. Our Community Relations Unit started conducting presentations and meetings online. One of our biggest accomplishments was to devise a plan to conduct our Recruit class training online while following the Colorado Peace Officer Standards and Training requirements. Our training academy staff along with our tech team came up with a way that the instructor can see all 34 recruits on two television screens as they teach the class, who are at home. While I was skeptical we could make it happen, they achieved the impossible in a short period of time.
We have seen a slight decrease in calls for service over the last two months but a couple crime categories have increased. We have seen an increase in business burglaries and burglarized motor vehicles. We still have proactive resources trying to combat these crimes. Traffic safety has remained one of our top priorities throughout the last five months. During the pandemic, we have seen an increase in speeding complaints. It appears people think they can speed when there are less vehicles on the roadways. We continue to conduct enforcement, when we can catch up to the violator. Please know we are still out there protecting our community the best we can.
It's fair to say the main item on employees’ minds is the economy and its impact on the City’s budget. We already made cuts to our budget back in April but that did not impact operations. We took money from training, overtime and other areas where it wouldn’t impact our service to the community. We are waiting to see what the April revenue will be for the City before any predictions are made for the future. The biggest concern is the possibility of furloughs or pay reductions. The City is working with us to limit the impact to employees if that does occur. I am hopeful the Federal stimulus money the City received will give us enough to prevent pay reductions.
Thank you all for your continued support of the Department and our employees. I look forward to the time we can meet in person again. If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know and I will provide you answers.
I hope you, your families and your staff are all staying safe and healthy.
Take care.
Vince
