Aurora – Major crime was down in the city by 11 percent last year compared with the year before, according to a report released Friday.
Leading the way was a decrease in murders, with 17 reported in the city in 2006. In 2005, there were 28 murders in Aurora.
Also seeing a significant drop were motor-vehicle thefts, which went from 2,775 in 2005 to 2,070 last year. In 2002, there were 3,326 motor-vehicle thefts.
Police officials credited several factors for the decrease in overall crime, including better communication among units, consolidation of departments, aggressive enforcement and education of the public.
“We had a good year,” Chief Dan Oates said. “We are bucking the trend right now.”
While crimes such as murder can be cyclical, the department has launched a major effort to reduce motor-vehicle theft – and it seems to be paying off.
Oates said the department is using new technology to thwart repeat car thieves, including a new license-plate reader that can spot cars and give officers almost instant information if the vehicle is stolen. The department plans to add more of the readers in coming years.
Officials noted that many other cities nationwide comparable in size to Aurora, a city of 300,000 people, are seeing increases in crime. So the decrease – even for a year – is positive.
“What the numbers show is that Aurora is a very safe city, and when you look across the country, we do very well,” Mayor Ed Tauer said.
In the nonfatal-shootings category, the number of incidents went down by 25 percent and the number of people who were victims decreased by 30 percent.
Property crimes were down slightly in two of three categories in 2006. But aggravated assaults saw an increase of 8 percent, the only spike in the nine major categories tracked, according to the report.
Oates credited his neighborhood policing effort – getting more cops on the streets to work with businesses and residents – for the decrease in property crimes.
Staff writer Carlos Illescas can be reached at 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com.
