[KrisKrinkle]

“...allow me to point out that the theater was crawling with cops for the Batman opening to control the crowds.”

First I heard of that. Is it true, or is he exaggerating for effect?

[Road Warrior ‘04]

Actually caught my attention also. I thought there were a few “rent-a-cops” for crowd control, but I’ve not read of any police at the scene...prior to the shooting.

[Engedi]

It’s true, I read that as well...they brought on extra security for the opening. So where were the security guards during all of this?

[QT3.14]

I watched a presser where the chief said officers were on scene within a 1.5 minutes of the call.

News source provided this:

12:39 a.m.: Aurora Police Department receives calls about the shooting.

12:40 a.m.: Police arrive at the scene a minute and a half later. Twenty-five police officers are on the scene within the first few minutes; 200 are eventually on the scene.

[Kaslin]

It could be very well true, since the movie theater has about 8 screens and I heard that the theater was packet

[Polynikes]

“the theater was crawling with cops for the Batman opening to control the crowds.”

I have heard the same thing. The movie was playing in at least 4 theaters and the police were on site as crowd control. The Aurora police chief said police were on scene in under 2 minutes once they determined which theater was being shot up. Holmes didn't require much time to wreak havoc. This is a stellar example of the cliche “When seconds count the police are minutes away”