Police are no strangers to the people who live on the five short blocks of East Thrill Place. Prostitution, drugs, and gang fights have drawn patrol cars to this northeast Denver neighborhood for decades.

While some appreciate the police attention to the predominantly black area - crediting the officers with closing crack houses and even contributing to a climb in property values - others fiercely resent their presence. They tell stories of cops who swoop in any time a group congregates on a corner or outside a convenience store.

"They always want to stop you and harass you for no reason," says Margo Richardson, a 30-year resident.

Now those tensions are escalating dangerously in the wake of a controversial police shooting of a 15-year-old mentally disabled boy who was holding a kitchen knife.

The death of Paul Childs - the fifth killing by Denver police this year - is raising new questions about the use of excessive force and highlights a long-troubled relationship between the police and minority neighborhoods in this normally quiescent city.

Across the country, controversial police tactics are often the tripwire for neighborhood disaffection - and worse. It has led to rioting in Los Angeles, Cincinnati, St. Petersburg, Fla., and most recently Benton Harbor, Mich., among other places. Now Denver faces a major test of whether it can work through an unusual and particularly sensitive case without triggering unrest.

"Unless we get a proper response from the mayor, police, and the DA's office, it's going to be a very long summer," says the Rev. Reginald Holmes, president of the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance, which represents about 35 African-American churches. "You've got some very, very angry people in this community. It won't take much for this community to blow."

The depth of the concern here was evident from a memorial service held for the 15-year-old youth over the weekend. It drew more than 500 people, including the city's top political leaders, who are vowing a quick and open investigation into the shooting.

The exact details of the incident remain somewhat in dispute. Nine days ago, on a Saturday afternoon, Childs was standing in the living room of his mother's house holding a kitchen knife. His 16-year-old sister called 911 and told the dispatcher, "He's trying to stab my mother with it." (The family has since denied they felt threatened.)

Police responded. According to a family account, four officers pulled their guns. One of them, James Turney, shot and killed the youth after Childs failed to respond to repeated orders to drop the knife. It was the second time Mr. Turney has killed a citizen in the line of duty in the past 18 months.

Neither police nor the family were unfamiliar with each other. In the past four years, the family had summoned police to the house 47 times, often for incidents involving the behavior of Childs.

The killing has put the Denver Police Department on the defensive. By one estimate, the city is already ranked among the worst in the nation for fatal police shootings.

Now police are being forced to explain why four adults with guns couldn't disarm a boy with a knife. Citizens want answers to why officers couldn't talk him down, shoot him in the leg, or spray him with Mace. Police are left struggling to prove they're not trigger-happy, but are doing everything they can to curb unnecessary killings.

"It's very easy to say there's more numbers," says Denver police Lt. Steven Carter, an aide to the chief of police. "But read each case letter [from the district attorney] and then decide: Are the numbers important or are the circumstances important?"

Since 1990, Denver police have shot an average of seven people a year, killing an average of three. A 2001 study by The Washington Post found that in the past 10 years, Denver ranked 17th in average fatal police shootings per year among the nation's 51 largest police departments. The same study ranked Denver among the top 10 in fatal shootings per capita.

When it comes to investigations, most officers are exonerated. Of 129 Denver officers who have killed or wounded someone since 1990, three were disciplined or reprimanded, according to department numbers.

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