The Denver Police Department’s program to assure the safety of residents, especially the people of LGBT community is off to a great start. Since the ‘Safe Place’ program launched last week, more than two dozen businesses have agreed to offer safe haven to victims of hate crime.

Lt. Michael Wyatt who took the initiative, has been busy discussing and meeting business owners to promote the idea. His target is to help stomp out hate crime, specifically against members of LGBT community.

Jack Rabbit Slims, a bar just north of City Park is the latest business partnering with DPD’s Safe Place program.

“It’s all about comradery,” said bar manager Matthew Freeman-Kimmel. “We can’t succeed without everybody.”

Businesses participating in the initiative are identified with rainbow stickers that let people know that a particular business is an appropriate place to shelter from harassment.

Denver police credit FOX31 Problem Solver Michael Konopasek for bringing the program to their attention.

The Safe program launched in Seattle about two years ago and since its inception the effort has expanded to 60 cities across the United States.

Any person being harassed can find a shelter at these locations, where the staff or owner will notify police. This will result in more people coming forward, lowering instances of unreported crimes.

Lt. Wyatt is spearheading the safety program in the city. He is openly gay and serves as the Denver Police Department’s LGBT community liaison.

Wyatt said he became aware of an increase of unreported hate crimes targeting gay teens. That’s when he decided to take the advice of the FOX31 Problem Solvers to adopt a safe place program.

“I learned about the program, and I thought that’s really cool,” said Kiva Hargrave, a Denver woman who identifies as bisexual. “We need to come together as a community.”

AMandeep