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Safety Issues

Safety Issues

Secondary Data

Figures 42-45 show selected crime data for Weld County from 1990 to 200231. As shown in Figure 42, violent crime in Weld County has remained less than 200 per year for the last 12 years with the exception of 1994 when it spiked to over 500. The lowest total was in 1996 with less than 100. Violent crimes has been increasing slightly during the years 1999 to 2002.

Figure 42. Violent Crime Total in Weld County 1990-2002

As shown in Figure 43, the total number of property crimes in Weld County has remained under 1400 over the last 12 years with the exception of 1994. The lowest total number of property crimes was in 1993, which was slightly less than 800 for that year. The number of property crimes has increased over the years 1999 – 2002.

Figure 43. Total Number of Property Crimes in Weld County 1990- 2002

The number of forcible rapes in Weld County over the 12 year period was the lowest in 1992 and 2000 and peaked in 1990, 1994, 1998 and again in 2002, which had the highest rate in the 12 year period of over 30 (see Figure 44). The rate has increased since 2000.

The total number of robberies in Weld was the highest in 1991, 1994, and again in 1998 with the total each year around 15. In the years 1993, 1995, 1996 and 1999 the total robberies were below 5 for each year. The total number of robberies has increased each year from 1999 to 2002.

Figure 44. Total Number of Forcible Rape and Robbery in Weld County 1990-2000

Figure 45. Total Number of Burglary, Larceny-Theft, and Motor Vehicle Theft in Weld County 1990-2002.

 

As shown in Figure 45, the total number of motor vehicle thefts was the lowest in 1993 and peaked in 2002. The total number of thefts has been above 100 since 1994 and has increased slightly since 2000. Yearly burglary totals have remained between 300 and 400 for the last 12 years except for the years 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, and 2002. In 1990, 1994 and 2002 the yearly burglary totals were above 400, and in 1993 and 1995 the yearly totals were below 300. As for larceny-theft, the yearly total peaked in 1990 and again in 1994. In 1993 and 1999, the yearly totals were the lowest in a 12 year period and fell below 500

Community Safety Issues – Survey Data

Respondents were asked if they experienced safety issues in the community they live in, including crime, lack of police protection, lack of fire protection and gangs. Respondents indicated for each one if they believed it was not an issue, a minor issue, a moderate issue or a major issue for people in their community. Results are presented in Table 22 and Figure 46.

Table 22. Percent of Key Informants and Household Respondents (HH) Indicating That Community Safety Issues Are a Concerna

Safety Issues	Minor Issue		Moderate Issue		Major Issue		Don’t know
	Key Inform %	HH %	Key Inform %	HH %	Key Inform %	HH %	Key Inform %	HH %
Crime	27.4	32.2	33.9	26.0	30.6	18.6	3.2	3.3
Lack of police protection	30.6	26.0	27.4	22.5	6.5	14.0	3.2	2.5
Lack of fire protection	38.7	25.5	6.5	11.8	1.6	6.3	1.6	5.2
Gangs	19.4	17.5	37.1	12.7	29.0	19.0	3.2	11.1

a Throughout this report, the percent of respondents who reported concerns were ‘’not an issue” were excluded from the charts and tables. The complete set of frequencies can be found in the Appendix.

Most key informant respondents thought that crime (63.5%) and gangs (65.1%) were moderate and major issues in their communities (see Figure 46). Lack of police protection and lack of fire protection were not viewed as major community issues by household respondents. However, household respondents were much less likely to view crime and gangs as a moderate or major issues compared to key informants. Of the safety issues listed, the highest percent of household respondents (44.6%) felt that crime was a moderate or major issue.

Figure 46. Percent of Key Informants (KI) and Household Respondents (HH) Reporting Community Safety Concerns as a Moderate or Major Issue

Some focus group participants expressed uncertainty about the issue of gangs in Greeley.

• “One doesn’t know if gang members are living in a house or not. I lived here for twelve years and didn’t know that someone was a gang member. I think lack of communication between neighbors is the reason for this.”
• “In my neighborhood, sometimes I see children of a certain age who are going out. I wonder if they are in gangs.”
• “It is possible to see young men hanging out on the street all together who look like they are in a gang.”

Other respondents believed that gangs are an issue in their Greeley neighborhood. Gangs become a concern as gang members tend to dominate public spaces of the community.

• “During the day, all these bald gang members hang out in the street. I see them and I am frightened and this is during the middle of the day!”
• “The biggest problem with crime that we have are the gangs.”

Focus group participants reported a disparity in police protection. Differences were based on locality in which some had police protection while others did not. This was true in urban as well as rural areas of Weld County. One informant in the urban area stated:

• “It depends on where you live…where I live it is very unsafe. There are alleys. There isn’t light. The police don’t pass by. The good thing is a neighbor that lives close by.”
• “I live between 9th and 11th and I never see patrols pass through there.”
• “So where is the protection for everyone? They pay attention to certain people or the person who complains and no one else.”
• “It would be better if during the day, or at night there was a little more protection.” For residents in rural areas, the lack of police protection and available law enforcement officers was a problem. Many focus group respondents desired more vigilance by the police in their neighborhoods.

Universally focus group respondents reported fire protection as good. Other community safety concerns mentioned by respondents included the following:

Crime and related behavior

• Gangs and crime have become a serious problem in Greeley. There’s no neighborhood that is left completely unaffected.
• No gang intervention programs and gang activity is increasing
• Hispanic gangs in the East side of town are a huge problem but citizens of Greeley don’t see it
• Meth labs are having a traumatic impact on families, neighborhoods, and communities. They created major health and safety issues
• Our neighbor was robbed twice, Police say they have no control over the break in due to not catching the suspect.
• We have been burglarized many times…stereos out of cars, not proper lighting in neighborhoods.
• Increase in crime is direct reflection of increase in population. Law enforcement needs to join the 21st century but money is again an issue

Traffic

• Weld County roads are the site of disproportionate share of deaths…alarming given the population
• Amount of auto deaths
• Speeding traffic
• Sand and gravel truck traffic on farm roads. Speeding trucks on rural roads.
• Need signs and speed bumps, lots of vehicles speed and lot’s of kids playing on road
• People drive to fast in neighborhoods
• Speeders/ university drunkenness/ DUI
• Safety of streets highways, to many DUI’s

Other Safety Issues

• Police brutality is a common problem…I have heard of several stories stating this is an issue that needs to be looked at more closely.
• Our community is located in the east edge of Weld County. The sheriff department doesn’t want to come out to investigate thefts in our area
• Police often don’t get to disturbance calls in time to be effective
• Public safety struggling to keep pace with growth and increased demand for services
• Lack of neighborhood street lighting. Response time of Greeley P.D. when called…sometimes takes days

Community Safety Issues by Subgroups

Those respondents who thought crime and gangs were a major problem (18.5% and 20.1%, respectively) were more likely to live in the Greeley/Evans area compared to those living in rural Weld communities.

Household Safety Issues – Survey Data

As Table 23 and Figure 47 illustrates, few respondents indicated that experiencing a household crime or experiencing threats from gangs were a major or moderate household issue. Twelve percent of household respondents indicated that experiencing crime was a moderate or major issue and 9.3% indicated that household threats from gangs was moderate or major issue.

Table 23. Number and Percent of Household Respondents Indicating That Safety Concerns Are Not an Issue, a Minor, Moderate, or Major Issue

Safety Issues	Not an Issue		Minor Issue		Moderate Issue		Major Issue
	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Experiencing household crime	258	71.1	61	16.8	28	7.7	16	4.4
Experiencing household threats from gangs	303	81.9	27	7.4	24	6.6	10	2.7

Figure 47. Percent of Households Reporting Safety Concerns as a Minor, Moderate or Major Issue

Household Crime by Subgroups

Significant differences in safety issues were found by Greeley neighborhoods, Weld County areas, and race. Forty-eight percent of respondents living east of 35th Avenue reported that crime was either a minor, moderate or major issue, with 11.4% indicating crime as a major issue. Seventeen percent of respondents living west of 35th Avenue indicated that crime was a minor or moderate issues, with no respondent indicating that crime was a major issue. There were no other significant differences by subgroup for experiencing household crime.

Experiencing household threats from gangs differed among Weld County areas and race. Over 85% of all county areas, with the exception of central-south Weld, Evans, and Greeley, reported that household threats from gangs was not an issue. Although 84.1% of respondents in Greeley reported that household threats from gangs was not an issue, 6.7%, 6.1% and 3% of respondents indicated that it was a minor, moderate and major problem, respectively. Similarly 70% of respondents in Evans reported household threats from gangs were not an issue, 12.5% said it was a minor issue and 16.7% said it was a moderate issue. Finally, 43% of respondents in central south Weld indicated that household threats from gangs was an issue, 14.3%, 21.4%, and 7.1% reported this issue as a minor, moderate, and major issue, respectively.