Lt. Kevin Hines shows a photo he took at the Stock Show Rodeo.

Editor’s Note: In addition to the new Stapleton lieutenant introduced in the article below, District 5 (Stapleton, Green Valley Ranch and Montbello) will have a new commander, Jeff Martinez—and District 5’s commander, Ron Thomas, is moving to District 2 (Park Hill, Montclair, Lowry and East Colfax), replacing Commander Michael Calo.

Among the Denver Police Department staffing changes recently announced is the placement of Lieutenant Kevin Hines, who began serving the Stapleton portion of District 5 near the end of June. Hines replaces Lieutenant Ian Culverhouse, who moved to the investigative technology division at central headquarters, where he will work with HALO cameras, body cameras and other technical electronic services.

An Ohio native, Hines has served with the DPD since 2005. He had been a banker, but wanted to do something more meaningful, he said, and friends spoke highly of law enforcement.

Hines began his career as an officer in District 2, which included Stapleton at that time. “So much has changed, especially in the north end of Stapleton,” he noted, but much remains the same. “It’s a very active, very involved community,” said Hines. “As a police department we always do our best work when we partner with the community and form those relationships with the folks we’re serving.”

When Hines was promoted to sergeant, he moved to District 3, serving parts of south Denver, and his recent promotion to lieutenant came with a move to District 5. He hopes to build on the foundation of relationships built by Culverhouse and his predecessors.

“Ian definitely laid some foundations when he was here, and I want to take what he started and continue it,” said Hines. “We need to know the community, and the community needs to know us.” You can expect to find Hines at all of the community meetings that take place around Stapleton, including the Citizens’ Advisory Board (CAB), Greater Stapleton Business Association (GSBA) and Stapleton United Neighbors (SUN).

Hines is a proponent of crime prevention, particularly in a safe neighborhood like Stapleton where property crime and crimes of opportunity are the biggest problems. He believes community awareness is key to that. “It’s great when we catch bad guys. It’s great when we find the burglar and get him in jail, but it’s better if we can stop that burglary from occurring in the first place,” he said. “So much of that is built by working with the community and being able to know what the problems are, and helping the community recognize the problems we’re trained to recognize.”

District 5 uses the Accurint® system to analyze crime data, and it allows police to identify and respond quickly to patterns of crime that may be occurring, said Hines, but it depends on citizens reporting crimes. “I always encourage people to report crimes because it allows us to recognize where we need to direct our resources,” said Hines. “Being able to direct resources based on what’s happening is part of that community partnership, and part of that relationship is that you need to tell me you have a problem so I can help deal with it.”

In addition to being Stapleton’s new lieutenant, Hines is an avid photographer, particularly of outdoors subjects. The Front Porch hopes to feature some of his work in an upcoming issue.