Message from Wheat Ridge Police Chief Chris Murtha:
Welcome to the City of Wheat Ridge Police Department. Wheat Ridge is a beautiful city located in the busy metropolitan Denver area that sits at the entrance to the Rocky Mountains. It is my privilege to serve as your Chief of Police and to lead a team of dedicated professionals who work tirelessly to keep our community safe. Our Relationship Based Policing philosophy along with our mantra of “Compassion with Boundaries” are our guiding principles.
Our profession requires constant engagement and interpersonal contact. We understand that safety isn’t just about laws-it’s about people. Whether responding to emergencies, engaging with our neighbors, or working behind the scenes, our goal is to protect, support and uplift this community. The standards for the people who work within our agency are high and the expectations are higher. Our staff is among the best in the country, and they consistently demonstrate a level of excellence that few can truly claim. We are not perfect, but our belief is that every single person who works at the Wheat Ridge Police Department should be a person that would show up and help our own family in times of need. Our commitment to this ideology is unwavering
Since 1972, the Wheat Ridge Police Department has been on the front line of modeling innovative concepts to engage with our community and provide exceptional services. From our beginning, we have seen our mission evolve; however, we recognize that our community’s needs for help and assistance have not changed. Building trust and legitimacy is at the heart of our relationship-based policing philosophy. We have a dedicated group of sworn officers and professional staff that provide exceptional services and safeguard the lives and property of the Wheat Ridge community. Their delivery of services to the community that live, work, and travel through the city has resulted in our city‘s recognition as an exceptional community. Our mission and vision demonstrate our commitment to addressing community concerns through ongoing examination of emerging issues and challenges of 21st-century policing.
Society is ever changing. Our society sees less people taking responsibility for bad behavior and we see less people being able to intervene in issues of concern. The one profession that has an obligation to get involved and intervene is the police. When issues of concern reach us, it can often be after those issues have been ignored or the current environment does not allow other people, institutions or organizations to take reasonable actions to intervene. That makes this job much harder. Policing has not backed away from our responsibility, but the scrutiny of our profession is intense. What we do know is we do not have the luxury to not be good. We strive for great, and we strive to exceed your expectations.