America’s Best Place to Live?

Has crime become a problem in Fort Collins?


by: Ted Mast
Justin Roush
Aaron Rognstad

Last week Dave Sathers was a victim of a petty theft crime.

It was nothing of extreme value or importance, but that’s not what concerns him.

It’s that he has seen an increase in these types of crimes within his neighborhood in the past couple of years. Car stereo and audio equipment theft, personal property stolen from driveways or lawns, vandalism, and even burglary are what he sees as the most common crimes committed in his Avery Park neighborhood near the intersection of Taft and Elizabeth.

“On Friday someone got up on my roof and went so far as to stealing my air outlet duct,” Sathers said. “Who are these people?”

While overall crime is down in the past few years, certain residents feel as if their neighborhoods are beginning to experience an increase in minor crime. They also detect a growing gang problem within the city.

After the violent Sept. 8 gang-related murder of Stephen Marble at a liquor store in LaPorte, and a stabbing in Old Town a week later by a Norteno gang member, many citizens of Fort Collins wondered if their quiet, bucolic little city was beginning to lose some of its charm as “America’s best place to live,” as according to Money Magazine.

In a gang-related incident, Stephen Marblewas
stabbed at The branding Iron Liquor Store in
Laporte, Colo.



Crime viewed in Fort Collins
Crime rate on the rise, or just a victim of an increasing population?

That was the first of many questions asked to numerous Fort Collins community members from all demographics and walks of life.

The following interviews yielded some interesting answers.

Kathy Welsh, 34, wife and mother of two, and a successful personal banker, lives in an affluent neighborhood on the outskirts of the city called Hearthfire Estates. Most of the houses spaciously accommodate well-to-do families of the Fort Collins elite. Carefully manicured lawns and landscaping surround the $500-thousand and over homes in this new and clean looking subdivision.

“We’ve never had a problem with any sort of crime here besides a few kids getting into some mischief ‘cause they’re bored,” Welsh said. “This neighborhood is too far removed from the rest of the city and no one who actually lives here would steal from their neighbor.”

But a few miles down the road at the intersection of Highway 1 and North College lies Poudre Valley Mobile Home Park, which according to Fort Collins Police Detective Marc Neal is “year after year, the most violent and crime-ridden location in the city.”

The trailer park, an eyesore to the community, houses mostly low-income Hispanic residents with some whites mixed in.

It is the home of the Northside gang, or Nortenos, who can be seen sporting Nebraska Husker black or red baseball caps with the letter N on them.
Police Detective Marc Neal says the Poudre Valley
Mobile Home Park continues to be "the most
violent and crime-ridden location in the city...
year after year”

Manuel Dominguez a 26-year-old asphalt worker, has lived in a two-bedroom trailer in the park with his girlfriend and three-year-old son for two years now. He came from Fort Morgan, a smaller city known for its notorious methamphetamine epidemic, where he was raised in a single-parent household by his mother who worked in the local cheese plant.

When asked if he had seen an increase in crime or an increased gang presence he had a mixed response.

“There’s always been, you know, small theft here and there and stuff being lifted from people’s cars, but it’s not all that serious,” Dominguez said. "Gangs...I guess Northside is up here.”

Many members of the Northside gang,the Nortenos,
live at the Poudre Valley Mobile Home Park. Some
residents credit the violence in the area to gang-
related activity.

He gave a chilling reply to the level of violence the gang displays.

“I’m not personally scared or intimidated by them. I know a few of them around here and they’re cool with me, but not with outsiders. Some of them are really f**cked up and will beat you pretty bad for any little reason,” Dominguez said. “A lot of them are in LCDC.”

LCDC, short for Larimer County Detention Center, houses annually up to 600 inmates at any given time. According to Fort Collins Now, recent numbers indicate that over half of these inmates are gang members

Local authorities’ perspective
Police officers give feedback


Based on the number of self-described gang members booked into the county jail, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden insists there is a growing gang presence in the area.

Alderdan claims there are hundreds of adult gang members and unknown numbers of juvenile members committing crimes in Larimer County who have been pushed here in the past several years from Greeley, Longmont and Denver due to police crackdowns in those cities.

Neal, one of four detectives assigned to gang activity in Fort Collins, says the city’s crime caused by gangs don’t involve scores of people. It’s the same members responsible for prior acts.

The crime rate in Larimer County has been de-
creasing over the past few years, according to local
authorities. They credit it to increased police
crackdowns in the county, especially towards gangs.

“It’s not like you have 40 people running around committing crimes,” Neal said. “You have three or four who consistently commit crimes.”

When asked if he thought the crime rate was increasing within the city he referred to statistics.

“Just look at the numbers,” Neal said. “Crime has been decreasing on the whole since 2003.”

Neal is referring to the over 1000 number decrease in crimes overall over the past three years.

Loveland Police Chief Luke Hecker agrees.

“The crime rate in Larimer County has actually been decreasing due to a zero-tolerance policy back in the ‘90s against gangs,” Hecker said. “First offenses were punished severely. Weld County, on the other hand, has not been able to get a foothold on its gang-related problems. This is why there is a much larger gang problem in Greeley than in Fort Collins.”


Concerned parents
Are kids still safe at the park and at school?

Lisa Olsen, 48, a mother of four, says she is aware and worried about violence and gang-related activity in Fort Collins.

“It’s not like it used to be when I was a kid,” Olsen said. “I used to go wherever I wanted in my neighborhood but with my kids, I make them play between our house and another house down the street.”

Olsen insists she gives her kids some sense of freedom but is unsure of what could happen to them when there is no supervision.

Olsen is also concerned about gang-related activity in local middle schools and high schools.

“I am worried,” she said. “Actually, there was a gang-related murder close to my kid’s middle school a little while ago.”

Olsen is confident that her kids are safe at school but agrees that schools are not exempt from violence or gangs.

When asked what parents should do to prepare their kids for violence and gangs in schools she replied, “It’s not as easy as talking to your kid like the commercials on TV suggest.”

Although she believes that might be her only advice to other parents.

“It is something I have talked to my kids about but I kind of just got to put the trust in them and know that they pick the right people to hang around with.” Olsen said. “I try to make sure my kids are making good decisions.”

Olsen suggests that a change in the economy could be sparking gang activity.

“It may be linked to a lower social class,” she said. “It seems like poverty may be increasing and the population growth has increased significantly since I moved here 12 years ago.” Olsen said.

Get in where you fit in
Racial separation at Rocky Mountain HS maybe sparking gang activity

Stuart Buchanan, a freshman at Colorado State University, was wandering the halls of Rocky Mountain High School only a few months back. Buchanan said he enjoyed his time at RMHS and was never worried about his safety.

“I wasn’t scared at school,” Buchanan said. “I felt relatively safe because most kids try to stay out of trouble while they are in school. More violence happens after school when every one is away from adults.”

Buchanan did admit that it was evident that groups of students were separated by race.

“There weren’t really gangs but the school was definitely split by race. The Hispanics stuck together, the whites stuck together and there weren’t too many blacks but they stuck together too. I still have friends at Rocky and from what they tell me, real gangs are starting to form,” he said.

Rocky Mountain High School is experiencing an
increased amount of race-related separation among its
students. Some students say "real gangs are starting to
form," which may lead to more violence and gang-
related problems in the Fort Collins area.

Buchanan said that there wasn’t racial name calling out loud but everyone kind of just knew what they thought about each other.

When asked if he thought the gangs were forming due to racism he replied, “I can guarantee you that is the main reason.”

Why the worries?
Crime activity decreases as citizen’s safety concerns increase

According to the Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce, Fort Collins has less crime than national averages for a city its size. Crime is four-fifths what it was three years ago, and the police have finally recognized that the city has a gang problem and are cracking down.

If you were to line up the numbers, you would think citizens would be feeling safer.

So then why are people still worried?

Well, not every category of crime is down. According to CityRating.com, rape is 2.30 times higher than the national average and theft is slightly above average.

It is the larceny and theft crimes, compiled with the growing presence of gangs that concerns most citizens.

"We're not Denver. We don't have major crime issues up here," said 37-year old father of two, Dennis Shortridge. "We're a college town and you're gonna have a lot of theft and sexual assaults."

Shortridge owns an HVAC business in North Fort Collins and claims to have seen some gang activity around his shop.

"They loiter and smoke cigarettes around here," Shortridge said.

Hopefully that's all they do for the moment.