Community honors Whitten for service among first responders

Left to right: Rotary Club President Ev Sequeira, Commander Steve Smidt and Officer Lynn Whitten

Officer Lynn Whitten, a member of the CU Denver l Anschutz Medical Campus Police Department, was honored by the Aurora Rotary Club at the annual First Responders Recognition Luncheon on Dec. 5.

As part of her duties, Whitten has provided 15 training sessions on active shooting incidents, a presentation on My Force personal-security services to the Student Senate, 39 new employee orientations, and 52 weekly press releases to the Aurora Sentinel newspaper, and has participated in six panel discussions on safety awareness with the College of Nursing.

“Officer Whitten is the face of the University of Colorado Denver Police Department,” said CU Police Commander Steve Schmit.

Whitten also manages, coordinates, and is the lead instructor for the Rape Awareness Defense training program sessions for women offered at the university. So far this year, she has trained 100 women in personal self-defense. Whitten also is a certified instructor for domestic violence awareness/prevention instructor and work place safety/violence prevention.

She represents the Police Department on the University’s Behavioral Threat Assessment Team and is the department’s victim advocate representative. In that role over the past year, she has assisted 15-20 victims of workplace violence, domestic violence and assaults. Officer Whitten also represents the police department at university-sponsored annual safety fairs, Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) drug take back events and new student welcome events throughout the year.