ARVADA POLICE DEPARTMENT ANNUAL CRIME REPORT

2011

City of Arvada

Chief of Police Don Wick

2011 crime report

Executive Summary  Occurrences of the public contacting the police department for assistance increased (1%). Police officer initiating contact with the public or communication center is showing an 11% increase compared to the five year average.

 Consistent with previous years there are generally more officer-initiated calls compared to citizen-initiated. The most frequent officer generated contacts involve traffic enforcement, case follow up and premises checks. The most frequent citizen calls tend to be disturbance, information, domestic and suspicious activity calls.  Reported crime has decreased since 2007; now down to its lowest with 5664 incidents. The city experienced fewer sex offenses, burglary, forgery, theft, vandalism, motor vehicle theft and drug offenses reports.

 Crimes involving physical force against another person increased one percent in 2011. There were nominal increases in aggravated assault (+4), simple assault (+9) and kidnapping (+1). 

Crimes against property involve offenses which target some type of physical property; they include arson, burglary, fraud/forgery, motor vehicle theft, robbery, stolen property, theft and vandalism. Overall, property crime dropped by 9% compared to a five year average; there were fewer burglaries, forgeries, motor vehicle thefts, thefts and vandalism in 2011.

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Society crime involves those offenses (drugs, gambling, pornography, prostitution & weapons) that have been prohibited by society. Drug and weapon offenses make up the majority of society crime in Arvada. Even though society crime is showing a 64 case increase from 2010; it is still well below the five-year average of 1009 cases.

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In addition to criminal reports, the police take reports for non-criminal events. Restraining order violation reports increased by 46% with 242 reports in 2011. Reports of suspicious incidents are also on the rise with 236 incidents. Significant decreases were noted for information, detox hold and runaway reports.

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The Arvada Police Department completed three Directed Patrol Intervention (DPI) programs in 2011. The goal of DPI is to increase quality of life by reducing crime and disorder in the most impacted areas of the city.

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Officers arrested 4291 individuals in 2011; the most frequent charge was for petty theft, DUI and FTA Arvada.

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2011 crime report

ARVADA POLICE AT A GLANCE in 2011…

POLICE ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

Deputy Chief Operations

Internal Affairs PIO, Ex. Sec & Ralston House

Deputy Chief Field Services

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Three types of police information are collected for the annual report – calls for service, incident report (criminal/non-criminal) and arrests. 

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Calls-for-service - Occurrences of the public or citizen contacting the police department for assistance, or a police officer initiating contact with the public or communication center. Incident reports - Incident reports are calls-for-service that require a more than initial response to a call. A criminal report involves the violation of the criminal code. They may involve an investigation, which sometimes leads to the arrest of a suspect. Incident reports are also used to record non-criminal calls for service, such as disturbances, field contacts and domestic disputes.

Calls for Service The Communications Center has 19 full-time dispatchers, 3 dispatcher supervisors and 1 communication manager who provide service twenty-four hours a day/seven days a week to the community. The dispatchers process numerous calls that are emergency and non-emergency related. For example, 20 individuals may call in one accident; however only one documented call for service is generated.

The Arvada Communication Center received 105, 657 calls for service in 2011. As can be seen by the chart, there was a slight increase (1%) in citizen requests for service and an 11% increase in officer-initiated contacts this past year compared to a fiveyear average of calls.

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2011 crime report

OFFICER-INITIATED DISPATCHED CALL TYPES: The table below shows the most frequent types of calls that officers were dispatched to in 2011 compared to 2010. The call types below shows the most frequent types of encounters a police officer has with the community. Officer initiated traffic stops in Arvada, which constitute a large portion of officer initiated callsfor-service, decreased along with Assists. All other officer call types increased, especially directed patrol intervention (DPI) which increased from 176 to 994 events. DPI program is further discussed on page 14. The Arvada Police Department has placed more emphasis on directed patrol for identified areas of focus to increase visibility and community relationships within the community.

CITIZEN DISPATCHED CALL TYPES: The table below shows the high frequency events that citizens request police assistance for in 2011 compared to 2010.

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2011 crime report

Reported Crime The offense categories below are used to track crime, not only in Arvada, but crime at the state and federal level. The Arvada Police Department participates in the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). To meet the requirements of this program data is sent to the Colorado Bureau of Investigations (CBI) every month. The following table summarizes crime in 2011 compared to the previous 5 years. A change to this year’s statistical snapshot is to compare crime in 2011 to the previous 5 years, when possible. This offers an improved comparison of data from year-to-year that eliminates extreme highs and lows which exaggerates differences between years. Unfounded events are not included in the table below. The ↑ ↓ symbols indicate crimes that are higher or lower (based on the normal range).

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2011 crime report

CRIME IN ARVADA: The city of Arvada‘s overall reported crime continues to decrease, with fewer burglary, sex offenses, theft, vandalism and motor vehicle theft reports.

Person Crime Crimes against person (e.g., assault, homicide, and kidnapping) is an offense that involves physical force against another person, they are often referred to as a violent crimes. Crimes against individuals increased 1% in 2011 compared to a five year average. There were nominal increases in aggravated assault (+4), simple assault (+9) and kidnapping (+1).

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Assaults Assaults are defined as an unlawful attack by one person on another. The difference between aggravated and simple assault involves the degree of potential injury/death. An aggravated assault is usually accompanied by the threat or use of a weapon that could lead to severe bodily injury (laceration, broken bones etc.). 2010 yielded one of the fewest cases of aggravated assault. Overall, aggravated assaults increased by 4% when compared to the five year average. There were 95 aggravated assaults reported to the Arvada Police Department in 2011.    

40% involved personal weapons, 25% involved a knife or cutting instrument and 12% involved a gun. 32 incidents were domestic in nature. More than half occurred in Sector B, which has the most populated area of Arvada 68 incidents resulted in an arrest.

Simple assaults increased by 2% when compared to the five year average. Included in this category are assaults were no weapon has been displayed, the victim does not suffers severe bodily injury and incidents where the victim feels threatened or intimidated without experiencing a physical attack. 

82% of incidents cleared with an arrest or exceptionally. To clear exceptionally, there must be a reason outside the control of law enforcement which prevents an arrest (e.g., death of offender).

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178 of the 432 assaults were domestic in nature

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May through August assaults increase, averaging 40 a month.

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2011 crime report

Property Crime Crime against property (e.g., arson, fraud, *robbery, theft and vandalism) destroys or deprives an owner of property against the owner's will. These crimes are considered less serious than violent crimes, or crimes against persons. *According to NIBR guidelines Robbery is considered a property crime since it involves the taking or attempting to take anything of value under confrontational circumstances; however, it is most often considered a person crime in the law enforcement community since the victim is threatened by force and fears immediate harm. Overall, property crime dropped by 9% compared to a five year average; there were fewer burglaries, forgeries, motor vehicle thefts, thefts and vandalism in 2011.

Property Stolen: A total of 4626 items of property were reported stolen in the City of Arvada in 2011. Electronics, items related to identity, clothing and financial instruments continue to be the most popular items stolen. A complete list of items stolen can be found on the following page along with the most popular item for each category.

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Arson Arson is the intentionally damaging of property by fire or an incendiary device. There were 29 reported cases of Arson in 2011 representing a 45% increase from the five year average. Arsons in 2011 were much higher than the norm (13 – 27) and the highest they have been in five years.

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2011 crime report

Theft Theft is the taking, carrying, leading, or riding away of property from the possession of another person. The blue line of the chart below shows total theft in Arvada for the last five years and 2011. Theft had been increasing at a slow pace but started to decline in 2011. Types of theft included in this total are shoplifting, theft from vehicle, theft from yard and general petty theft. Theft is considered different from burglary and robbery because “the taking” does not involve force against a person or fraud.  

Theft from Vehicle (car breaks): One factor contributing to the recent decline in theft may be the decrease in theft from vehicles (car breaks). The red line of the chart above shows total car breaks in Arvada for the last five years and 2011. Car breaks recorded a high of 887 in 2006 and a swift decline in 2007 and a steady increase to 758 in 2010. In 2011, FDCT fell to the second lowest in the past five years. Unlocked vehicles in driveways or apartment complex parking lots are an easy target. A favorite past time for teens is “car hopping”. Those who participate in car hoping walk up a street trying car door handles until they find one open, rummage through the vehicle, remove anything of value (or not) and move on to the next vehicle. It is not unusual for victims to be unaware that they had been victimized, until days later when they are looking for property left in their vehicle. Targeted items continue to be cell phones, Ipods, GPS devices and money. There were 42 arrests for theft from vehicle in 2011. Individuals most often arrested are teen males.

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Metal Theft: Metal theft, which falls under theft, continues to be a problem in Colorado and through-out the United States. The chart on the next page shows the break down by type of metal stolen in Arvada. Locations with the highest incidents of metal theft are parks, constructions sites, and locations that house large quantities of metal. Of the 95 metal thefts in Arvada, arrests were made in 8 of the cases. One deterrent may be a recently passed bill in Colorado requiring sellers to show ID, no cash pay-outs over $300 dollars allowed and buyers are now required to keep the metal for five days to give police more time to investigate the metal’s history.

Society Crime Crime Against Society (e.g, drug violations, weapon offenses and prostitution) represent society’s prohibitions of engaging in the above activities. This type of crime is unique because it does not involve a victim or the taking of property. Even though society crime is showing a 64 case increase from 2010; it is still well below the five-year average of 1009 cases.

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Drug Offenses Drug offenses make up the majority (94%) of society crime. The drug offenses are comprised of individuals who have possessed, distributed or manufactured drugs and those who have been in possession of drug paraphernalia (pipes, bongs etc.).

Drug offenses are the violations of law prohibiting the production, distribution, and/or use of certain controlled substances and the equipment or devices utilized in their preparation or use. Overall drug offenses have decreased 24% when compared to the five year average. Arvada had 416 drug violations, the majority involving marijuana, followed by unidentified/unknown drugs and methamphetamine. There were 316 drug paraphernalia violations, resulting in 365 pipes, bongs and syringes seized in 2011. There were 733 arrests for drug violations in 2011.   

296 (40%) were less than 18 years old 90 (12%) were 18 or 19 years old. 202 (27% were 20 to 29 years old.

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OTHER REPORTS TAKEN IN 2011: In addition to criminal reports, the police take reports for non-criminal events, such as field contacts, found property, and domestic disputes. Most of these reports reflect the general well-being of individuals or quality of life in Arvada.

Restraining orders are issued to prohibit a person from contacting a victim for the purpose of intimidation, harassment, threat, injury or harm. Incidents of restrained persons contacting protected parties increased by 77 incidents compared to the three-year average. Suspicious incidents showed a large increase (33%). This is a catch all category that encompasses a wide range of “suspicious activity” that does not fall into any other category. Significant decreases were noted for information, detox hold and runaway reports.

Directed Patrol Intervention DPI 2

The Arvada Police Department completed three Directed Patrol Intervention (DPI) programs in 2011. The goal of DPI is to increase quality of life by reducing crime and disorder in the most impacted areas of the city. The first DPI effort (January to August) involved a city wide effort to reduce car breaks. Through the combined efforts of patrol’s proactive planning and night owl’s reporting suspicious activity; car breaks deceased by 10%. The second DPI effort took place from September through October at Memorial/Skate Park. Officers worked with

DPI 3

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community members to address complaints of loitering and drug violations. The concluding DPI effort focused on quality of life issues (disturbance, intoxication & neglected animals) for residence and business owners living in the Water Tower area of Arvada. The main focus was on police visibility by walking in the community, talking with Olde Town business owners and residence to identify root causes of community concerns.

Criminal Arrests Total arrests (4291) include both summons and taken into custody arrests that are entered into the police records management system (RMS). Of those arrested: 

77% were eighteen or older. The youngest person arrested was ten (Vandalism) and the oldest was 85 (DUI).

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3144 were men and 1147 were women.

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59% live in the city of Arvada.

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Police Services & Contacts Arvada Police Department 8101 Ralston Road - Arvada CO 80002 Police Contact Numbers: Non Emergency: 720-898-6900 Office of the Chief: 720-898-6650 Records Department: 720-898-6920

Arvada Police Social Media Sites Create Critical Link with Community! The Arvada Report December/January 2011

The Arvada Police Department Web Site www.arvadapd.org

On our website you can:            

View crime prevention tips View crime statistics Report a crime Order a crime report, photos or dispatch CD Make an online minor traffic accident report Get information about crime in Arvada at www.RAIDSonline.com or www.CrimeReports.com. Apply for a job with the Arvada Police Department Learn about crime prevention Learn about breaking police news Submit a compliment, complaint or request for clarification Contact a School Resource Officer Request a vacation watch

 

Crime Analysis Contact Information: Nora Bensko: 720898-6940 (Tue, Wed, Thu & Fri) Susan Land: 720-8986941 (Mon, Tue, Wed & Thu)

All photos provided by Tomas Martinez (Multi Media Technician) Page 15