their use of non-lethal projectiles and tear gas against protesters. Particular attention has been paid to the departments repeated failure to abide by its own "Use of Force" policy. The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) of the department was also up for vote by the city council, which was rejected on its first pass under pressure from protestors seeking to defund the department. 2022 On July 17, 2022, three uniformed police officers shot at a 21-year-old suspect, injuring six innocent bystanders who were standing in front of Larimer Beer Hall in the Lower Downtown neighborhood of Denver. Officers involved were subsequently placed on administrative leave, pending a separate internal investigation. Denver District Attorney Beth McCann launched a probe. Co-responder Program The Denver Police Department, the Mental Health Center of Denver and Denver Human Services’ Office of Behavioral Health Strategies partner on a successful co-responder program that first launched as a pilot program in 2016 with four co-responders. This program pairs licensed professional behavioral health clinicians with police officers to respond together to calls involving people experiencing behavioral health issues and/or co-occurring substance use issues. The clinicians are trained to assist people in crisis and provide the most effective services for resolution. The co-responder program has been implemented in all six Denver Police Districts. As of January 2022, DPD is nearing 11,000 co-responder contacts since inception on April 1, 2016. In 2021, there were 3,179 encounters and of those, 1% resulted in arrest and 3% with a citation. The program now includes 40 staff members, 36 of which are co-responders. Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) On June 1, 2020, the Denver Police Department implemented the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) pilot program which sends a paramedic and a mental health provider to low-risk behavioral health and medical calls for service in lieu of a police officer. This mobile crisis response unit assists residents who are experiencing problems related to mental health, depression, poverty, homelessness and / or substance abuse. The STAR team responded to more than 700 calls for service during the pilot program, which operated from June 1, 2020, to November 30, 2020. The Denver Police Department was instrumental in forming and launching the STAR pilot program in partnership with community groups and other city agencies with funding from a Caring For Denver grant. The STAR pilot program is modeled after the CAHOOTS program in Eugene, Oregon. The funding for the