A PETITION
WHEREAS, a new detention facility currently being constructed for the City and County of Denver is without a name, and
WHEREAS, it is fitting and proper that the facility be named for a member of Denver's law enforcement community who has upheld the highest ideals of public service, and
WHEREAS, Colonel Philip S. Van Cise served his country as an intelligence officer with the 81st Division in France during World War I, and
WHEREAS, upon returning home, Col. Van Cise served as district attorney for the City of Denver from 1921 to 1925, and
WHEREAS, during his tenure as district attorney, Col. Van Cise fought against Denver bootleggers, despite threats against his life, and
WHEREAS, during his tenure as district attorney, Col. Van Cise strove to break the Ku Klux Klan's grip on Denver politics, despite an attempt to kidnap him, and
WHEREAS, during his tenure as district attorney, Col. Van Cise directed the investigation and prosecution of the notorious Blonger gang, securing the conviction, in a month-long trial, of 20 con men, despite their attempts to bribe jury members, and
WHEREAS, during his tenure as district attorney, Col. Van Cise secured convictions in 44 of the 45 criminal cases he filed, and
WHEREAS, during the rest of his career as an attorney, Col. Van Cise performed honorably before the court, and
WHEREAS, Col. Van Cise departed this life on December 8, 1969, and no other public accommodation in the City of Denver has been named for him, and
WHEREAS, Col. Van Cise was originally forced to detain the Blonger gang not at the city jail but in the basement of the First Universalist Church, where he was a member, because the jailers were in league with the con men, and
WHEREAS, the new detention center is located on the former site of the Rocky Mountain News, for which he served as an attorney for 20 years, now therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED that the City and County of Denver honor the memory of Colonel Philip S. Van Cise by naming the city's new detention facility the Philip S. Van Cise Detention Facility.
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