Twenty days after five assailants brutally beat and robbed a man at a light-rail station in Five Points, Denver Police Chief Robert White acknowledged his department waited too long to warn the public and release details about the attack.

The case has prompted the department to revisit its policies on the release of information during sensitive investigations, which is currently done on a case-by-case basis, White said Tuesday.

“In hindsight, we absolutely should have released this information to the community sooner, that’s the bottom line,” White said. “We are going to raise the bar a little bit in the future as it relates to how these videos should be — when they should be released and who should ultimately have the authority to release them.”

Video surveillance captured the Sept. 18 assault, which happened about 9:30 p.m. at the station at East 30th Avenue and Downing Street. A group of at least five men are seen kicking and punching the victim, identified in court documents as 23-year-old Gregory Michael Moscato, at one of the bus shelters.

Moscato was knocked unconscious and suffered head injuries, court documents show. He couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday.

He told police he was robbed of his wallet containing $600 in cash. Officers arrested one man, Daishawn Matthews, 18, on robbery charges as he ran from the scene, but White said four others remain at large.

“We don’t know their names,” he said. Matthews has since been released on bond.

Police released the video and a short description of the attack on Monday, urging witnesses to come forward with information. Some frequent riders waiting at the Five Points station Tuesday said they wished they had known sooner.

“It’s pretty important, an assault. That’s pretty dangerous,” said Serena Roybal, 26, who learned of the robbery from a reporter. Such cases should be publicized sooner, she said, “so I can be careful so it doesn’t happen to me.”

Detectives must strike a balance between releasing information that pertains to public safety and protecting the integrity of an investigation, White said. Until this week, police had been seeking independent witnesses who could identify the beating suspects without the help of video footage.

The decision to release a public bulletin Monday was probably made “at the district level,” White said, although neither he nor a police spokesman would expound.

“If we have a robbery and we have some suspects and we have a good idea of those individuals, I think as soon as is practical we should release that information,” as it could help solve a case and keep people safe, White said. The chief would not say what policy changes he was mulling, only that “that is a conversation we will have.”

The department’s delay called to mind a similar situation in 2009, when police were slow to publicly link at least 26 incidents they later described as racially motivated assaults and robberies in parts of downtown. They arrested scores of men and boys, most of whom were associated with gangs.

In the September case, a Regional Transporation District controller manning the surveillance camera alerted police officers to the attack while it was happening. RTD officials gave the footage to detectives but did not alert patrons about the attack.

“At that point, because it is a police investigation, we take their lead,” RTD spokeswoman Lisa Trujillo said. “We leave that up to the police department and the local jurisdiction.”

The Denver Police Department doesn’t keep statistics on crimes that happen on RTD properties, and RTD could not immediately compile such data on Tuesday. But Trujillo said metro-area police departments have made more than 200 requests for surveillance footage from the 7,000 cameras throughout the agency’s system so far this year.

“We urge our patrons to be vigilant,” she said. “If they see something, say something.”

The Five Points station has been the scene of police activity several times this year. In July, a gunman fired shots at a passenger, injuring no one but leaving a bullet in the side of a light-rail train. The next month, officers shot and killed a knife-wielding man near the station.

In April, a man fatally stabbed a fellow rider on a crowded bus at a transfer location at West Colfax Avenue and Federal Boulevard. Less than 48 hours later, another man slashed a woman with a box-cutter as they rode a bus near East Colfax Avenue and Fillmore Street.

Gavin Fleishman, 15, who was waiting at the Five Points station on Tuesday, said he saw a fight aboard a train last week, but he still feels safe.

“I feel safe when I am riding the bus,” he said. “But there should still be more precautions.”

Sadie Gurman: 303-954-1661, sgurman@denverpost.com or twitter.com/sgurman