In Northglenn, fewer cat burglars are slipping into homes at night. In Grand Junction, there aren’t as many meth addicts breaking into cars to swipe things.
Burglaries dropped 14 percent in Englewood and Grand Junction, 26 percent in Northglenn and 22 percent in Littleton from a year ago, authorities in those cities said Tuesday.
Thefts, meanwhile, reportedly declined 10 percent in Littleton, 34 percent in Northglenn and 20 percent in Grand Junction between 2005 and 2006.
Asked about their own trends in the wake of Tuesday’s crime report by Denver officials, police in a selection of other Colorado cities generally reported good news, at least for property crimes.
Those trends echo an FBI report issued in December, citing a nationwide drop in property crime between the first half of 2006 and the same period the year before.
Violent crime is more of a mixed picture. The FBI report’s numbers on violent crime in Colorado’s largest cities showed increases in Aurora, Colorado Springs and Lakewood between 2005 and 2006, along with drops in Denver, Pueblo, Thornton and Westminster.
Tuesday, police in various cities cited several factors that could explain their improving property-crime numbers. They said the economy is improving, that officers are getting better at identifying prolific thieves and that frequent neighborhood patrols are scaring thieves away.
“It’s community policing,” said Rick Kellogg, Northglenn police spokesman. “We’re putting police where (thieves are) breaking into homes.”
He said officers track where burglaries and thefts are happening every day, and when there is a pattern of three in one area, undercover officers and patrol officers are deployed.
Grand Junction police Lt. Greg Assenmacher said taking prolific criminals off the street can have a major effect. In one drug sting involving federal agents, he said, Grand Junction took 31 methamphetamine users off the streets last year.
“When you get people who use meth, they continue (stealing) until you stop them,” he said. “That can have a big impact.”
