DENVER (KDVR) – Police are leaving the Aurora Police Department as the city’s violent crime rate is climbing.
Lt. Dave Cernich penned a letter of resignation to the Aurora City Council blaming it for his early retirement. Officers are leaving the city’s police force. In 2020, so far the Aurora Police Department has seen 24 resignations, 35 retirements, and eight terminations – almost double the retirement numbers from each of the last four years and on track to outpace them in resignations.
Lt. Cernich claimed the city council and the public were turning on police at a time when they need police most. Statistics back up some of his claims of rising crime rates in Aurora.
Aurora’s violent crime rate per 100,000 throughout 2019 was 753.2, according to data compiled from census records and Colorado’s crime records.
This puts the city near the top of the charts for Colorado violent crime rates. Of the state’s ten largest cities, only Denver and Pueblo had a higher violent crime rate in 2019 than Aurora.
Like many of Colorado cities, Aurora’s violent crime patterns have intensified in the last ten years as population and economic characteristics changed.
Aurora breaks major crimes down into two categories – violent crimes and property crimes.
Over the last decade, the Aurora property crime rate has fluctuated, but the 2019 rate,, the most recent information the City of Aurora keeps on file, was similar to that of 2011.
The overall major crime rate, however, grew by 250 crimes per 100,000 residents. This ten-year rise in major crime comes entirely from the violent crime rate, which went from 458 per 100,000 in 2011 to 753 per 100,000 in 2019 – a 64% jump.
The rates of sex assault and murder nearly doubled in the last ten years, while the robbery rate tripled. Motor vehicle thefts more than doubled.
A year-over-year comparison can’t be made yet between 2020 and 2019, but the Aurora Police Department has released data for the first half of 2020. According to the data, trends have worsened in 2020.
The amount of major crimes in the first half of 2020 has increased from the first half of 2019 in every category except sexual assault.