For example, since the May ambush shooting death of police Detective Donald Young, the city has paid his wife and children about $37,000 through October. But the projected total is more than $1.4 million in payments over 40 years.

Vasquez, the deputy police chief, said officer injuries are most often caused by attacking or resistant suspects, followed by foot pursuits, auto accidents and training mishaps as a surge of 150 recruits passes through the police academy this year.

To reduce "hands-on" clashes that often injure officers and suspects, police are relying on less-lethal weapons such as electric stun guns and pepper-ball projectiles to subdue people resisting arrest, Vasquez said.

Since 2001, they've also trained more than 500 officers to use crisis-intervention techniques to "verbally de-escalate" potentially violent confrontations with mentally ill and distraught individuals.

Many of the strain and fall injuries occur during foot chases as officers slip on ice patches or hurt themselves hurtling backyard fences, Vasquez added.

During backyard chases and raids on drug-dealer fortresses, police encounter another occupational nemesis: vicious guard dogs. Officers suffered 34 claims for animal bites during the past five years, costing $56,591.

To cut auto accidents and other unsafe practices, the department uses an "early warning" computer database that tracks officer performance, Vasquez said.

Vasquez acknowledged the agency has faced criticism from some from rank-and-file officers that the foot-chase bulletin, like 2001 restrictions on vehicle pursuits, "hampers officers ability to go out and chase down bad guys."

"This is a matter of balance," said Vasquez, who stressed that the department wants officers to use the safest tactics to track down those fugitives who clearly pose a threat to the public or police without needlessly risking injury to themselves - or innocent bystanders.

The chief's request for about $100,000 to run the program was nixed for the 2006 budget, but the agency plans to seek corporate sponsorship to fund it.

"The chief's philosophy is that the wellness program, by reducing these claims, pays for itself," Champagne said. "Around the country, these programs have been statistically shown to diminish workers comp claims."

"At a fire scene, you can go from zero-to-110 percent just instantaneously," he said. "That's a tremendous strain on your body. If you look around the country, heart attacks is probably the No. 1 killer of firefighters."

Ensuring that firefighters, especially older veterans, remain in strong shape and eat heart-healthy firehouse chow, will pay off long-term, Champagne said.

"The vast majority of our (deputies') injuries come when we're attempting to restrain inmates," said sheriff Maj. Phil Deeds, the workers compensation coordinator.

But Deeds said he believes clashes with resisting prisoners also account for many of the 234 deputy claims for fall, slip and strain injuries, totalling $1.4 million, since 2001.

"We're trying to make it a safer workplace. Everybody's focused on that," he said. "And I think the number of claims going down is a direct result."

The combined workers compensation injury claims for strains, falls and slips filed by Denver police, firefighters and deputies. The $8.1 million cost accounted for 57 percent of all public safety injury claims.

Claims filed for hearing loss suffered by firefighters (believed to be older injuries that predate a nearly 10-year-old requirement that personnel wear ear protectors to shield them from wailing sirens).

This is cache, read story here