Under fire from angry Ballpark neighborhood business owners and residents, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock is delivering on a promise of more downtown police officers and other efforts to clean up the area.

Hancock and police officials say a proposed increase in downtown policing would help address long-standing problems connected to the homeless and, beyond Ballpark, public pot smoking and late-night Lower Downtown revelers.

Hancock has asked the City Council for $1.8 million “to immediately address increased demands and current issues” in Denver Police District 6, which covers downtown.

The money would cover 10 new officers to add to 34, including homeless outreach officers, who already work in lower downtown, on the 16th Street Mall and in the Ballpark neighborhood.

Separately, Denver’s Public Works Department is pledging $40,000 to cover increased services for growing Ballpark, which has complained about litter-strewn streets and other problems connected to drug dealing and the city’s largest cluster of homeless shelters. Those efforts include more power-washing of sidewalks, adding more graffiti-removal routes and increasing street sweeping. Officials also will examine the need for better lighting.

Hancock and his aides say the renewed focus on public safety and other issues in downtown hot spots is a result of the area’s burgeoning growth, with the residential population increasing another 20 percent since 2010. The mayor called more police an investment.

But the administration is equally mindful of the public’s perception of downtown safety problems.

Lately, Ballpark residents and business owners have made the loudest complaints over an $8.6 million city subsidy for a homeless day center and courtyard to be built adjacent to the Denver Rescue Mission on Lawrence Street.

“We have (a need for) stronger enforcement, because the criminal element has embedded itself in the homeless, as well as what’s happening on the mall,” with open pot consumption, the mayor told The Denver Post. “So it’s a downtown response.”

The increase in officers also would expand Denver’s policing capability for LoDo after midnight, which long has posed a challenge, particularly in summer.

Tempers flare and violence sometimes explodes as patrons leave LoDo bars around the 2 a.m. closing time.

Last year, a community group’s analysis showed LoDo was the most likely place to be a victim of a crime in Denver between 1 and 3 a.m. Simple assaults are common.

The new officers come on top of other city efforts in LoDo, including adding more oversight of liquor law compliance and promising more enforcement of rules forbidding food peddlers and trucks after midnight in the area.

Deputy Chief David Quinones, who oversees operations, said the increased policing will help in LoDo because it will expand DPD’s coverage downtown 24/7.

Officers will take to the streets in the three target areas on foot, on bike and soon, after a purchase is complete, on Segways.

The goal, said Quinones and District Commander Tony Lopez, is to reverse the trend of downtown-based officers having little time for proactive policing because they’re so busy keeping up with enforcement.

If the council approves the $1.8 million request, about half will go toward the officers.

Initially, that means using overtime to increase downtown policing by the equivalent of 10 officers and eventually hiring and training that many. A police recruit class is nearing graduation, and the next gets underway next month.

The rest of the budget request would cover an anticipated increase in arrests and detention costs for the Denver sheriff.

The council’s Government and Finance Committee will consider the mayor’s request June 4.

Councilwoman Judy Montero, who represents Ballpark and LoDo, said the city’s police and public works plans represent a comprehensive approach to deterring crime.

“Because of the rapid growth that we’ve had (downtown), we haven’t been able to stay ahead of what we need,” she said.

To Ballpark Neighborhood Association president Judy Schneider, increased policing holds the most promise. She’s less sure of public works’ plans.

She said “adopt-an-alley” and graffiti efforts long have been embraced by the area.

“I guess time will tell,” she said. “Everyone can have the best of intentions, and we can all keep our fingers crossed that it’s going to work.”

The Ballpark neighborhood also awaits efforts by Denver Parks and Recreation to make changes at two magnets for drug-dealing and the homeless.

By August, the department plans to build a limited-access community garden to replace fenced-off Triangle Park. And across Broadway, spokesman Jeff Green said, officials are working out plans to change a triangular area around an art installation — a boxcar protruding from the ground — into a small dog park of sorts.

Jon Murray: 303-954-1405, jmurray@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ denverJonMurray