Thread by @shayshinecastle

Dang, I can't believe I forgot we were doing this: A crime update from Police Chief Maris Herold. Presentation: www-static.bouldercolorado.gov/docs/Item_6A_-…

I don't have any notes for you bc there weren't any in the packet.

"Bike theft is proving very problematic," Herold says in her overview of what we'll be covering.

Those stats were eye popping. 995 bikes stolen this year. Average value: $1,800
Total value of stolen bikes: $1.83M

"It's unprecedented in 2020 we're actually citing felony offenders for both burglaries and car thefts," Herold says. Again references COVID and the inability to jail offenders.

Nationally, property crime and burglaries are down (as are sexual assaults and robberies). Homicides, aggravated assaults and car theft are all up nationally.

Herold expects property crime to increase nationally when we have full-year data.

In Boulder County, assaults and car thefts are up. Burglaries are up in the city of Boulder. DV calls are up, sexual assault reports are down but calls to crisis centers are up.

Beth Christenson, the PD's new data person, is going to dive into the crime stats a little deeper. She's been on the job for 4 months.

Crime goes up in the summer every year in Boulder. That's true for the country as a whole as well: bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=p…

The police dept responds to 80K calls per year.

75% of their response is reactive, Christenson says. They want to lower that to 55-60% so they can do more "proactive policing" to prevent crime from happening.

14% of calls are medical or welfare checks, btw

Here's a catch-all chart looking at 5-yr rates of crime vs. 2020 rates

"Research after research shows that crime clusters and is not random," Christenson says. Local data bears that out.

Boulder's hotspots for violent crime: Downtown, by the hospital, Valmont/30th, Central Park / muni campus, Uni Hill,

For violent crimes in Boulder,
38% there was a Known Relationship between the victim and offender
- 39% Stranger
- 23% Unknown

Aggravated assaults are up 2% in 2020, compared to the 5-year average

Christenson: "This year we've seen three periods we extended outside the normal range" — January, late May/early June, late October/early Nov.

Aggravated assault hotspots: Downtown, Uni Hill, 30th/Valmont/Pearl area, Foothills hospital

22% of these assaults involved a police officer. These charges are leveled against someone being arrested if they spit on, hit or otherwise fight the officer, Christenson says.

Robberies are up 47% in 2020 compared to the 5-year average. "However, these numbers are relatively small," Christenson says — a max of 10 in a rolling 28-day period.

A reminder that economic downtowns often fuel an increase in crime: reuters.com/article/us-usa…

Sexual assaults are down 47% in 2020 (or at least reports are) Christenson says the police believe this is due to less bar activity, fewer students out on the Hill.

64% of victims knew their perpetrator in some capacity (that's a bit lower than national data)

"This is typically a known relationship between two individuals," Christenson says.

Property crime is very clustered in retail areas: Downtown, Twenty Ninth Street Mall, Uni Hill, etc.

Burglaries up 27% compared to 5-year average. Biz were shut down for weeks, Christenson says. It made them highly vulnerable.

29% of our burglaries are businesses

27% are from unlocked, unattended or open garages

"A simple crime prevention measure that we can all do is lock our doors," Christenson says. "And keep your garage shut."

36% increase in car theft, particularly since August. "We do suspect some of that is due to college student returning," Christenson says.

They aren't sharing real numbers here, so I can't say how many there were.

Kalmia/36th is a "hot spot" that had 5 car thefts so... ? Other hot spots had 40+ thefts (East Campus) and Uni Hill (15+)

One of the challenges is the jail being not open to nonviolent offenders, Christenson says. We do have repeat offenders for car theft, and only 50% have been jailed this year.

Car theft is different from theft FROM a car, which is when ppl steal stuff out of cars.

The latter is up 37% this year.

47% of victims left their cars unlocked with valuables visible from the outside

"We can prevent this," Christenson says. "Keep valuables out of your car, and lock your car."

Larceny (shoplifting, pocket-picking, purse-snatching) is down 10% in 2020

Also highly clustered. Home Depot is a big spot for this, Christenson says.

Lots of opportunity crimes here, Christenson says, including things being stolen off porches. Don't leave stuff on your porch, she says.

Domestic violence is trending up, as experts and advocates predicted way back in March boulderbeat.news/2020/03/19/bou…

This is very concerning, Christenson says, especially as we head into the winter and more sheltering at home.

Boulder PD has made this a priority issue. boulderbeat.news/2020/08/29/bou…

Back to bikes: The value of stolen bikes is self-reported by victims, Christenson says. Reminder: Avg value of stolen bikes in Boulder: $1,800

The average value of a stolen bike in Boulder is worth several times more than my car.

I'm not even sure all my worldly possessions combined are worth $1,800.

I'm a simple girl, with simple tastes.

Also, I'm poor-adjacent.

Back to crime: Christenson going over what the police are doing to try and prevent bike theft.

Police helping bike shops asses their risk and safety measures. Also distributing bicycle registration forms so your stolen bike has a better chance of being recovered.

You can do that at bikeindex.org

Did you know your bike has a serial #? Like a VIN on a car.

Boulder PD is actually seeking community input on how to deal with bike theft

totally forgot, but there's a town hall with Chief Herold Dec. 10 (a week from Thursday) from 4-5 p.m. Sounds like those will become a regular thing.

Swetlik (who used to be a bouncer): I've seen a lot of aggravated assaults; I've filled out a lot of police reports myself. What % of those crimes are college-related? How do we compare to cities our size without a university?

Christenson: There are benchmark cities we can compare to. But I don't have the numbers today.

Swetlik: I've seen a lot of crime as "two kids getting into it after drinking a lot." That should be qualified, bc that's a "very specific kind of thing."

Swetlik: You mentioned car theft and theft from cars being prevalent in street parking. Is that a risk factor?
Christenson: I think the answer is yes, but it always comes down to lock your car; don't leave valuables in your car.

"Leave your junk in the trunk," Christenson says.

Swetlik: Do streetlights help?
Christenson: Absolutely. Burglaries we're seeing is places where there's not a lot of light. We tell homeowners to put a light above their garage door.

But it has to comply with the outdoor lighting ordinance! dailycamera.com/2019/01/04/for…

Herold following up on Swetlik's q about car theft and parking. "It really does come down to the environment," she says.

On-street vs. off-street parking is prob highly correlated with income. It costs $$ to have a driveway or garage.

Brockett: Bike theft is always a problem here, but it seems to be more so right now. Are there ways to crack down? Like are there purchasers or chop-shops creating a market for stolen bikes/parts?

Herold: "It's kind of alarming. There are trails from Denver to Boulder and other parts of the state" with "sophisticated vendors." Investigations are ongoing "at the regional level and with our federal partners."

I don't mean to make light, but a national bike theft ring has got to be the lamest crime syndicate of all time. Like, how do you have any cred in prison at all?

Not that non-violent offenders should go to prison. Restorative justice all the way.

I mean, listening to Boulderites cry about their stolen bikes would probably be punishment enough. I know I would be heartbroken if someone took Charles Bikely away from me.

Ok, back to council business.

Christenson "100%" commits to giving council a monthly crime report. Not necessarily at a meeting, but in some form.

Herold: "If we're just responding for calls to service, that is not the intention of policing. We've got to figure it out; we've got to figure it out."

Herold: I really think we ought to have "people who are better equipped than us responding to some of these calls."

She has been a proponent of co-response: That is, having mental health experts or DV advocates responding to calls with police when appropriate.

Or medical experts when it's a medical call, as a substantial proportion of police calls are.

Again on bike theft: Weaver says we should make Boulder "less attractive" to bike thieves and they'll stop coming here.

That feels like a good stopping point. @threadreaderapp please unroll. Thank you!