Continued from page 1 Remodeling of the BHPD station
system was built out across the state, police
and fire transitioned to the state’s radio sys-
tem. The department’s radio system tran-
sitioned from a stand-alone single antenna
attached to a shed to an integrated 800 MHZ
radio system with multiple talk groups. Our
technology in records management, video re-
tention, and dispatch, that is the envy of much
larger police departments. My off-the-cuff
conclusion is the overall project has arresting
features and is
now a source of
immense pride
for the dedicated
and steadfast
members of the
Black Hawk Po-
lice Department.”
radios were
upgraded to
be interop-
erable with
other agencies
during emer-
gencies.”
“Unlike the woke whack-job government officials and
activists in parts of Colorado and the country calling for
defunding the police, in the City of Black Hawk we say
fund the police and fund them well.
— Mayor David Spellman
In addition,
Cole noted,
“We were the first in the county to issue body
cameras to our officers. We updated our
Chief Moriarty
said the renovations and upgrades will help her
department. “A newly remodeled station means
a more efficient and up-to-date police depart-
ment. We remodeled records,
dispatch, booking and inves-
tigations. We removed walls,
utilized space better and im-
proved the workflow. It took
months.”
records manage-
ment system
and began using
tablets instead
of tradition-
ally higher-priced
Panasonic Tough-
books. Now, most
of the records
held by the de-
partment are in
electronic files. The
dispatch center used
the latest equipment
to provide public ser-
vice. Over the years,
the Black Hawk Po-
lice Department has
upgraded dispatching
equipment, comput-
ers, radio equipment,
recording equipment,
and 911 equipment in
the dispatch center.
The evidence col-
lection system was
upgraded to include
modern storage
equipment and
procedures. Video
collected from of-
ficers’ body cameras
can now uploaded to
the district attorney’s
office in criminal cases. The city also has added
cameras at several locations in the city that
dispatchers can now monitor. In general, old-
fashioned paper has been replaced by electronic
Black Hawk Police Chief Michelle Moriarty stands near
the booking area, which has a bulletproof glass window
and (behind her) a prisoner cell, where suspects are
held until they are transported to the Gilpin County Jail
or other locations. Previously, there was just a single
restroom on the first floor that prisoners and employees
shared. Another staff-only restroom was added as part
of the recent renovation project.
The new dispatch area
includes several workstations,
each of which has multiple
TV-style monitors that can
help several dispatchers pull
up reports, view videos, go
online, and communicate with
others.
Photos courtesy of Black Hawk Police Department
clearances for officers, hospital-status informa-
tion and rapid SOS response.”
The Black Hawk Police Department includes
41 full-time members, 29 sworn-in officers and
12 non-sworn staffers. That includes Moriarty,
two commanders, five sergeants, 18 patrol
officers and three detectives. The non-sworn
department members include eight dispatchers,
two records officers, one property and evidence
worker and one chief administrative assistant/
court clerk.
Moriarty noted that technol-
ogy in law enforcement has
significantly changed since
she first began working with
the Arvada Police Department
in 1995 before moving to the
Black Hawk Police Depart-
ment a little more than three
years ago.
Spellman said the city has a history of law
enforcement. “When the City of Black Hawk was
incorporated in 1864, the City Charter stated the
fledgling city would have a Marshal who would be
the ex-officio Chief of Police. In August of 1991,
the city retired the designation of City Marshal
and organized the Black Hawk Police Department,
with the Chief of Police as the top law enforce-
ment officer. The office for the new department
was located on the first floor of City Hall on Selak
Street. In 1994, after the renovation of Black
Hawk’s 1869 schoolhouse on Church Street, the
department was relocated to this iconic building.
The recently completed project marks the third
renovation for the schoolhouse turned police
department and is the most extensive and expen-
sive. The schoolhouse may be an imposing edifice
on Church Street, but for a police department, the
square footage makes for tight quarters.”
“When I started in 1995, we
wrote everything down and
had to memorize maps. When
we were sent to a call, we had
a notepad rubber-banded to
a clipboard. Now, there are
computers in the cars with
mapping, dispatched calls,
pending calls, etc. We had no
cell phones; now we have cell
phones or iPads with all the call information.
Chief Moriarty shows off the department’s
high-tech Mavic 3T drone with zoom and
infrared cameras that can assist police
and fire department members. Several
city employees are expected to participate
in a drone pilot training program later this
spring.
Photo courtesy of Black Hawk Police
“Cameras and photos were different. Now,
we can download by a click of a button versus
sending a roll of film or a memory card off.
Dispatched calls
used to be writ-
ten on dispatch
cards; now, they
type everything
into a Computer
Aided Dispatch
(CAD) system.
All the CAD systems get better and better with
every passing year. The officers wear body cam-
eras and can now download in minutes versus
hours. Records Management is electronic, and
all officers now do data entry,” the chief said.
files, too.”
Moriarty said
one of the depart-
ment’s
ongo-
ing
goals
is to
work closely with the Gilpin County
Sheriff’s Office, Colorado Division
of Gaming, Colorado State Patrol,
Gilpin Dispatch, Black Hawk Fire
Department and the Gilpin Ambu-
lance Authority.
“One of the things Black Hawk has done has been
to continue to update technologies in the police depart-
ment,”
— City Manager Stephen Cole
Cole, who was Black Hawk’s police chief
from October 2005 until he became city man-
ager in March 2019, said the department has
grown from 34 positions in 2014 to 41. “When
I arrived in October of 2005, the police depart-
ment had good equipment, but we looked for
opportunities to improve our operation every
year. We leveraged grant funding to purchase
new radios and other equipment. Technology is
changing so fast it’s easy to fall behind. I would
say that every piece of technology has been re-
placed and upgraded over the years, making the
police department more efficient and effective,”
he commented.
“We dispatch for BHPD, BHFD,
and Gilpin Ambulance (for city calls,
not county),” said Moriarty. “Gilpin
County Dispatch Center is our back-
up dispatch center, and they are our
backup center (we work closely with
them). Dispatchers handle many
things during a shift, including 911
calls, non-emergency calls, police/
fire/ambulance radio traffic, Emer-
gency radio traffic, several criminal
justice systems to aid the officers
on calls, Computer Aided Dispatch
(CAD), towing calls and calls for
medical helicopters, assisting other
agencies with 911 rollover calls,
administration duties, searches and
“One of the things Black Hawk has done has
been to continue to update technologies in the
police department,” according to Cole. “The
Black Hawk Police Department played a cru-
cial role in building new radio towers in Black
Hawk and Gilpin County. Once the 800 MHz
