Special Investigations
Detectives who work in the Special Investigations Section specialize in tracking and catching criminals who cross jurisdictional borders, hurt children, traffic illegal drugs, and more.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has taken a proactive stance on fighting this growing crime trend. We have assigned 3 detectives and 1 Sergeant to the Special Investigations Unit to investigate these crimes. The trends in auto theft include out of county suspects driving into Douglas County in a stolen vehicle and then driving through neighborhoods in an attempt to identify another car to steal. They usually work in groups and are OFTEN ARMED during the commission of the crime. PLEASE USE CAUTION AND DO NOT APPROACH THESE SUSPECTS. CALL 9-1-1 IMMEDIATELY. Most of the stolen vehicles are used in the commission of other Felony level crimes throughout the Denver Metro Area.
Other proactive techniques used by the Sheriff’s Office to deter such crimes as auto theft, are crime prevention and neighborhood watch programs. By educating the citizens of Douglas County on the proper way to avoid becoming a victim, we hope to decrease the number of opportunities that a criminal has to get to your car.
Almost all types of vehicles are subject to being stolen, but Kia’s and Hyundai’s are currently the most popular. The majority of auto thefts happen in the densely populated area of the north-central portion of the county.
Remote start and keyless entry systems do not make your vehicle impossible to steal. These criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated and can reprogram your car in under a minute.
Make it tough for the auto thieves:
- Don’t leave your keys in your car, even if it’s parked in your own garage.
- Park your car in a garage and keep the garage door closed day and night.
- Always lock the doors and roll up the windows, especially when parked in a public place such as a mall or a movie theater.
- Don’t leave your car unattended while it’s running.
- Don’t leave valuables lying around where thieves can see them through a window.
- At night, try to leave your car parked under lights or near the main entrance of any business.
- Never assume that your car is safe, even if you live in a “nice” or low crime community. Criminals can and do come from all walks of life.
- Never leave a child alone in a vehicle.
Currently, this unit is comprised of a sergeant, corporal, and four detectives. The Unit handles felony level cases involving theft, burglary, trespass, arson, robbery, and criminal mischief.
Most of these types of crimes come to the Property Crime Unit with very little suspect information or leads to go off of and become very long investigations in order to try and identify a suspect. Citizens are more likely to be a victim of a property crime than any other type of crime.
Detectives often coordinate with our crime analyst, other investigative units, and outside agencies to track pattern crimes. This unit has been successful in identifying and prosecuting pattern type offenses.
Members of this unit work with victims and community members to educate and empowerment citizens to help decrease the incident rate of these crimes.
Property Crime Unit:
- Robbery
- Burglary
- Felony Criminal Trespass
- Felony Theft (Other than motor vehicle theft)
- Felony Criminal Mischief
- Arson
- Theft of Trailers, ATVs, and Heavy Equipment
- Weapons Law Violations
This is a regional team composed of detectives from Douglas County, Lone Tree, Castle Rock, and Parker, managed by the DCSO. These detectives are charged with investigating crime trends, all narcotics investigations to include; manufacturing, distribution and trafficking. Investigators work closely with other law enforcement agencies to prevent and solve crime and maintain the quality of life in Douglas County.
The Intelligence unit collects, analyzes and disseminates valuable information that law enforcement can act upon. Analysts also use digital forensics to help detectives solve crimes. The data is shared with other agencies to help maintain officer safety and eliminate potential risks in the field.
Through a partnership with the Colorado Information Analysis Center (CIAC), the intelligence unit stays abreast of other intelligence issues across the state and nation.
The unit also partners with the FBI field office by participating in the Colorado Trafficking and Organized Crime Coalition which focuses on human and labor trafficking of children, adults, and organized crime.
“Crimes that involve people younger than 18 require detectives with expertise in juvenile delinquents. One of their top priorities is tracking and locating runaways. The detectives work with the district attorney’s office to place young offenders in treatment like the Serious Habitual Offender Directed Intervention program.”
The Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC) is located at
11011 W 6th Ave #120, Lakewood, CO 80215
Phone: 720.497.7770
The DCSO is required to conduct annual liquor compliance checks to make sure businesses are complying with Liquor Authority regulations like not serving or selling alcohol to minors.
DCSO works with an in-house developer as well as a Sex Offender Management Specialist to maintain the Sex Offender Tracking and Registration (SOTAR) program. This program manages over 12,000 sex offenders throughout the state of Colorado. The public can view limited information and sign up for alerts at www.sotar.us.
We participate in several task forces with other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies:
- ATF – Regional Anti-Violence Enforcement Network R.A.V.E.N
- DEA – Front Range Task Force
- DEA – Drug Enforcement Agency
- FBI – Rocky Mountain Safe Streets; Fugitive Unit
- FBI – Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation Task Force
- FBI – Joint Terrorism Task Force