By David Pyrooz
Few issues attract stronger opinions from Boulder residents than housing, bicycles, and crime. Terry Shipland was murdered July 23 outside of a Circle K while confronting Brian Farrar, a transitional housing resident, over a stolen bicycle. That tragedy has raised legitimate questions about safety in Boulder, especially in light of raging debates about crime and justice nationally.
It is important to put crime in context. And by most metrics, Boulder is an exceptionally safe city.
Over the last five years, Boulder has averaged about one homicide annually. In contrast, there are around seven homicides per capita each year in U.S. cities with more than 100,000 residents. Boulder is more like Clovis, Calif., or Provo, Utah, than Denver or Pueblo, the latter cities each recorded eight homicides annually per 100,000 residents.
Names of homicide victims sadly fade to statistics in most large cities; the Terry Shiplands in places like Boulder are fortunately able to remain in our collective memory.
While violence makes the papers, anyone who has spent time perusing NextDoor knows that property crimes draw the ire of Boulder residents. People are far more vulnerable to bicycle theft, vehicle break-ins, and burglaries than physical violence — between 2014 and 2018, there were 14,307 property crimes reported in Boulder, compared to 1,180 violent crimes.
It might defy belief, but the rate of burglary and theft in Boulder is about 5 to 10 percent lower than the average for the 19 cities in Colorado with more than 50,000 residents. Not exactly eye-popping numbers, but it suggests that the protective bubble of Boulder extends to property crime.
Of course, university cities like Boulder are insulated from many of the hard facts of life. Their population composition trends younger, highly educated, and more physically active than most cities. The rhythms of the academic calendar year are also punctuated in such cities. This matters because crime rates fluctuate seasonally and 18- to 22-year-olds are disproportionately the perpetrators and victims of crime.
Boulder fares well even when compared to university cities. Of the 65 universities in “Power Five” athletic conferences, all of which are research-intensive and doctoral granting, 23 are located in cities that share similarities with Boulder — not too small to where the university dominates the city and not too large to where the university is background noise. Boulder’s violent and property crime rates are lower than most other university cities, and are comparable to College Station (Texas A&M) and Iowa City (University of Iowa).
None of these statistics matter to someone who was assaulted outside of a convenience store, intimidated by groups congregating in parks, or had a bicycle stolen from his or her house.
Crime victimization is deeply hurtful, personal, and should never be discounted. It leads people to alter their way of living, flee to safer neighborhoods or cities, or, worse, extra-legal justice.
This is why it is so important for legal resolutions to crimes. Clearances are a good, but not perfect indicator, since making an arrest does not guarantee a criminal conviction. Compared to large cities, Boulder does pretty well clearing violent (except rape) and property crimes. Compared to Colorado and university cities, Boulder is middle-of-the-pack for violent crime, yet clears a greater proportion of property crimes than most cities.
Crime and justice are changing in the United States. Violence is up, especially in major cities. Year-to-date homicides increased 53 percent in Aurora and 40 percent in Denver compared to 2019, cities where homicide rates have already doubled in the last decade.
COVID-19 has impacted criminal justice policies and practices. Law enforcement agencies have reduced traffic stops and county jails have declined to admit arrestees or released detainees early. COVID-19 is also placing major pressures on communities, as unemployment and homeschooling continue to strain families.
Since the tragic deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the attendant social unrest, more than 450 proposals to reform policing have been introduced in 31 states. That includes Colorado’s Senate Bill 20-217, which changes when officers can use deadly force, makes officers liable for civil rights violations, requires the use of body cameras, and mandates reporting racial demographics for police stops.
Boulder is not immune to these economic, political, and social forces. Yet the city enjoys a number of advantages that should help buffer against the wild fluctuations in crime observed in other cities.
It is important to remember that low violent and property crime is a privilege, but one that can be easily lost without vigilance. Efforts to alter the delicate balance of community control of crime can have unintended consequences, especially in times as unprecedented as these.
David Pyrooz is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder. He studies crime trends, gangs and criminal networks, and criminal justice policy and practice. He is the author of “Competing for Control: Gangs and the Social Order of Prisons.”
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