History
In its brief 43-year history, the City of Westminster has grown from a small farming community to a bustling city of approximately 88,207 residents. Dramatic growth and change over a short period of time is a major challenge for any community, bringing with it many public safety problems that must be addressed. These challenges bring opportunities to develop and enforce laws that improve the quality of life for all residents.

Today, Westminster residents benefit from a police department widely recognized for innovation and progressive policing strategies. We competed for technology grants successfully, and received hundreds of thousands of dollars in state and federal funds. Westminster has become a model department due to the pioneering leadership of its administration and the support it receives from elected officials and community.

Police Facilities & Equipment
The lobby is open from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. daily to provide information and police services, and only the general business lobby is closed on City recognized holidays. Otherwise, it's business as usual for our 24/7 field patrol.

The department is located within an English-style red brick building, and as of 2009, a bran new modernized police facility is underway. The current facilty holds about four times as many staff members as when it was originally built, making it quite a tight squeeze.  A visit to the department will show that space is at a premium, with people and equipment everywhere. Almost every facet of police work now involves computers in one way or another, and nearly every employee in the building utilizes the various technology. In fact, at last count, there are over 50 software systems that are used daily by staff.

Information systems are continuously being replaced and improved to take advantage of the time savings technology has to offer. Westminster is a leading agency where a majority of police reports are now being entered directly into laptop computers in the patrol cars, saving both paper and the expense of later transferring written reports into computers at the department. Officers can access historical case reports, digital photography, digital mapping and other key resources directly from their vehicles, too. More than 95% of this state-of-the-art equipment has been paid for by the state and federal government grants mentioned above