Greeley Police chief: Violent, property crime up 15% in 2021
Part I crimes – which include murder, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, arson, burglary, theft and automobile theft – were 15% higher in Greeley in 2021 compared to 2020, a trend reflected statewide. Courtesy photo.
By Trenton Sperry
During a Greeley City Council work session Tuesday night, interim Police Chief Adam Turk gave council news no public servant want to hear: Violent and property crimes increased this past year.
Turk said Part I crimes – which include murder, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, arson, burglary, theft and automobile theft – were 15% higher in Greeley in 2021 compared to 2020, a trend reflected statewide.
Of note in the data Turk presented:
Aggravated assaults were up 38%, from 321 to 444;
Automobile thefts were up 47%, from 386 to 569;
Thefts were up 7%, from 2,020 to 2,161;
Murders were up 33%, but there’s a small sample size; there were nine murders in 2020 and 12 in 2021.
Though 2021’s increase in Part I crimes is the second straight for Greeley, the longer-term trend is more nuanced; the 3,706 crimes this past year put 2021 right in the middle in its 10-year history. For example, Greeley had 3,864 Part I crimes in 2013, the high point over the past decade, but it had 3,023 in 2019, the low point. The city averaged 3,508 Part I crimes from 2012-21.
These numbers also come with some other caveats: Greeley police received fewer calls for service in 2020 and 2021 than in recent years, and the department has seen its number of arrests generally decline for the past few years.
And despite the increase, Greeley remains similar to other communities its size with regard to violent and property crimes. For instance, the city has a lower rate of Part I crimes per 1,000 people than Boulder despite a larger population, and its rate is less than half of Pueblo’s.
On Tuesday, interim Chief Turk said his department is working to put this and other data to use. For about six years, Greeley police have utilized a strategy that collects data on the locations of Part I crimes and traffic crashes to identify where the most tend to take place. In December, officers identified two areas of the city to focus their resources, although Turk didn’t elaborate on where those two areas are.
As part of an outreach campaign, Greeley police first approached residents and businesses in those areas, as well as citizens’ groups, to let them know a new level of enforcement was imminent. In January, Turk said, the department began to “saturate” those areas with increased patrols and traffic stops. He said GPD will continue to collect data and determine whether this approach is having a positive effect.
Other things of note from Tuesday’s presentation on Greeley police:
The department has made some progress in its attempt to better reflect the community it serves. Just 5% of Greeley’s officers were female in 2016, and just 10% were non-white in a city that’s 35-40% Latino, according to 2010 U.S. Census numbers and 2020 estimates. By December, 10% of Greeley’s officers were female and 14% were non-white. Interim Chief Turk said Greeley is competing with other nearby communities in its effort to improve those numbers, and he said it takes time to get new sworn officers on the job.
Greeley police beat the national average for Part I crime clearances (police define those as making an arrest with enough evidence to prosecute) in 2021 in most categories. GPD beat the national average in clearance of murders, aggravated assaults, robberies, arson, burglary and automobile theft. The city lags the national average in rape and theft clearances. Interim Chief Turk said rape cases tend to involve lengthy investigations that spill over from year to year, and he noted there is a 1 percentage point difference on theft clearances between Greeley’s clearance and the national average.
Greeley Police are fully staffed with non-sworn officers, but they’re down four sworn officers from what they’re allowed to hire by council. Interim Chief Turk noted there are four cadets attending the spring police academy at Front Range Community College.
GPD has 197 body-worn cameras in use, and the department uploaded 108,749 videos in 2021. Officers averaged 298 video uploads per day. The department received 91 requests for release of videos this past year by open records requests, and the District Attorney’s Office requested videos 3,914 times. The department has 254,382 videos from body-worn cameras in storage.
The department has five priorities carrying over from 2021: Mental health and homelessness management, upgrading its body-worn camera program, addressing the mental health of officers, recruiting and retaining the best officers possible, and reducing violent and property crimes.