From behind the bar at Prohibition, owner Jimmy Callahan can watch the drug dealers and prostitutes trolling for business along a strip of East Colfax Avenue where a man was killed last month.

If he spots someone loitering by the streetlight outside his property, he tells them to move along.

“I give them one (changing of the) light,” he said.

On Thursday, Callahan was one of about 25 people who attended a community meeting with Denver police brass, District Attorney Mitch Morrissey and representatives of the city attorney’s office and other officials to address the problem.

Since robberies and assaults began spiking along the corridor between Broadway and Downing Street and the surrounding area in January and February, District 6 police Cmdr. Tony Lopez has added a foot patrol to the units who already patrol the area in cars, and officers have substantially increased their contacts with suspicious characters, he said.

Arrests are up, but as police have increased the pressure on Colfax, Lopez said, some of the illegal trade has moved to nearby East 16th and 17th avenues. “We are still directing resources into those blocks,” Lopez said.

The highest number of citizen-initiated calls to police during March came from Colfax between Pennsylvania and Pearl streets, according to police. On March 18, Billy Newson, 29, was shot to death at the corner of Pearl and Colfax. Police have arrested Anthony Escobedo, 31, for the murder.

Newson had an extensive arrest record, with many of the busts for drug-related offenses. He had long struggled with drugs, his brother, Gene Newson, said at the time.

Gene Newson also said his brother was shot in the head moments after he had robbed the shooter.

The increased police presence is a good thing, said City Councilwoman Jeanne Robb, who represents the area. “But that doesn’t mean they will be in the right place at the right time.”

In the past few weeks, three people were robbed at gunpoint near Pennsylvania and East 11th Avenue, she added.

Drug dealing in the area has been a problem for a long time, and neighbors fear that cuts to the department’s budget could be making things worse. The Police Academy held its last recruit-training class in April 2009, and no new classes, which the department counts on for new blood, are expected until 2013.

Chief Robert White is reorganizing the force, moving cops from desk and other non-line jobs to patrol, but the process will take time.

Deputy Chief David Quinones said the ranks of supervising sergeants have been shored up, with 59 sergeants being shifted to the six districts from elsewhere in the department.

“We brought all the districts back to full staff for supervisors,” he said.

Thirty-two detectives also have been reassigned to the districts. It will be up to commanders in the districts to decide how they use the new personnel.

Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com