WELD COUNTY - When citizens call police to report a crime, they expect someone to investigate.
However, one local police department is accused of neglecting numerous cases, some involving serious allegations.
On Monday, 9NEWS Crime and Justice Reporter Anastasiya Bolton broke the story about the Platteville Police Department. 9NEWS brought you the story of "Sarah." She says she was raped as a child in Platteville and went to Platteville Police for help. She asked us not to reveal her real name.
"The fact that he just got away with it and is living life normally freely is really upsetting," Sarah said.
Sarah told us her case never went anywhere.
"I feel like I came to them for help and they didn't help me," she said.
On Wednesday, 9NEWS went to ask officials in Weld County who's policing the police and who victims can turn to if their local police department is not satisfying their needs.
"My reaction is that we had some unacceptable police behavior in the county," Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck said, who told us he read and watched 9NEWS' Monday night story.
There 9NEWS outlined two dozen cases unfinished by Platteville Police Detective Eli Rodriguez. Sarah's case was one of them.
9NEWS obtained documents dating back to 2009.
In those documents, Rodriguez's sergeant, Scott Smith, was asking then Police Chief, now town manager and public safety administrator, Troy Renken to do something about the open cases.
"It certainly doesn't look good for the Platteville Police Department to have that kind of paper trail and lack of follow-up on an issue that's that important," Buck said. "And those are important cases. When you talk about sex assaults and burglaries and cases like that you have real victims that have been horrifically brutalized, and to not do the police work is just unacceptable."
9NEWS asked Buck about one specific case from Platteville that, according to the incident report, was filed with the DA's office after the statute of limitations ran out.
"They had more than probable cause for 18 months and didn't present that to our office till the day after the statue of limitations ran out, and that's just unacceptable," he said. "There is no other way to present that or look at that."
What Sarah and many victims may not know is they have other resources.
"They can come either to me as the sheriff and ask that we intervene, or maybe even go to the district attorney's office and ask for their investigators to assist," Weld County Sheriff John Cooke said.
Cooke says his office routinely helps smaller agencies, including the Platteville Police Department. He also told 9NEWS if a department can't handle a case, it should ask for assistance, but not everyone does.
"It could be egos with the police department saying, 'We can handle it, we don't need any help,'" Cooke said. "It could be they don't realize they need help, they might say, 'Well, I'm handling this fine and I don't need any help.'"
While the DA's office does have direct authority over a small town police department, for instance the DA cannot fire an officer, it does have authority to suggest things or discuss issues.
Buck told 9NEWS he plans to meet with Platteville officials. The date or time for that have not been set.
"Certainly the information that's contained in these reports and [9NEWS'] work has brought that to my attention and I'm gonna do that, yes," Buck said.
If you need help from the Weld County DA, you can contact them online at www.weldda.com, or call them at 970-356-4010. The Weld County Sheriff's Office can be contacted at 970-356-4015.
(KUSA-TV © 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)