Alicia Pour remembers crawling on the ground, trying everything not to give up, during her first day of training to become an Aurora Police Department officer.

The first day was one of the hardest, she said, but she recalls looking up and seeing a group of women officers and instructors.

“I look up and there are all these women and they’re like ‘Let’s go Pour, let’s go,'” Pour said. “For me, it spoke volumes.”

Pour said the strong women at APD and their efforts to recruit more women drew her to the department, which graduated 29 recruits at a ceremony Thursday, the department’s largest graduating class in four years. 

APD has struggled with recruiting and hiring but, as the large graduating class Thursday demonstrated, the department’s efforts are paying off. 

One of its recruiting campaigns, the 30 by 30 pledge committing to have 30% women in police recruit classes by 2030, is what drew Pour to APD, she said.

“It’s hard to find your place in such a male dominated world and male dominated field, so there were times where I wasn’t sure I’d do it or fit in,” she said. “The campaign really solidified the deal … it wasn’t just talk, they are actively doing it.”

The efforts are also part of the progress the department is making in its consent decree, which it entered into with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office in 2021 to implement sweeping changes to policing, notably in the use of force and how officers engage with residents.

While they’ve made progress, the department in December had 748 authorized police positions but only 672 sworn officers, putting the agency’s staffing level at about 90 percent.

In an interview with The Denver Gazette in January, APD Chief Heather Morris said their recruiting efforts have been successful over the past year, but they need to focus more strongly on retention.

At Thursday’s graduation, Morris said this continues to be the department’s biggest challenge. 

Focusing on wellness for the officers is a big part of confronting that challenge, she said. This means giving officers wellness days and shortening shifts from 12 hours to 10.

Morris expressed her excitement to see such a big class of recruits, tearing up while addressing them Thursday afternoon.

“I know what it was like for me,” Morris told The Denver Gazette. “I remember when I got started and now with the career that I’ve had, I’m excited for them for that.”

Morris said the next class coming in July is expected to be even bigger.

“Everything’s going really well,” she said. “We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing.” 

Training for recruits has changed over the past few years, with updated policies, Morris said. This is partially due to progress under the consent decree, but also progress that needed to, and hopefully would have, happened anyway, she said. 

Prior to graduating, Thursday’s recruits went through 26 weeks of classroom, hands-on and scenario-based training. They got their official badges Thursday before launching into the field training phase. 

Pour said the department has been transparent with the new recruits from the beginning about its past challenges.

“That transparency has always really hit me because you don’t want someone who’s just throwing the wool over your eyes,” Pour said. “I’ve never gotten that from (APD).”

In its efforts to strengthen transparency, the department also recently launched a new technology platform, in contract with technology company SPIDR Tech, that gives Aurora 911 callers updates about their calls and ongoing investigations. 

Callers and victims of crimes will automatically get texts, emails and surveys after calling 911 to keep them informed about the status of their call or investigation. 

The messages go out for 64 call types, excluding more sensitive calls that require personal responses from officers. 

After the call or investigation, callers will get a link to a survey, where they can give feedback on Aurora 911 dispatchers and officers. 

Chris Juul, APD’s professional standards and training division chief, said the first few weeks of the platform being live have been successful, with the department getting four and a half out of five stars so far on the survey overall.

The platform is another step toward increasing the APD’s transparency, coming about a month after the department unveiled its transparency portal to inform the public about crime, department and response statistics. 

“We’re trending in the right direction with regard to customer service efforts and transparency in general,” Juul said. “People have a spot where they can get a lot of immediate answers, which is really important, because in the past we haven’t done a very good job with that.”

The portal and new platform are “only the beginning,” Juul said, and the department plans to continue building on efforts to better transparency.