After living in Greeley, CO for three years now, one thing has become very apparent to me, and that is the fact that Greeley is filled with crime. To give you some perspective, within the first month of living here in 2018, someone had stolen my bike right off the University of Northern Colorado campus. The following year in 2019, I lived on the 2000 block of 11th Ave where a police chase had concluded in the shed of my back yard where three officers had detained the driver. Now in 2020, the crime rate has seemingly increased with more break-ins and vehicular thefts break-ins on and around campus.
On the morning of September 27nd, the last thing my roommate Jakob (Jake) O’Grady wanted to wake up to was a video of his car’s back windshield smashed into a million pieces.
“I saw the snapchat of the broken glass and I didn’t realize what it was at first. Then I realized that it was broken glass and it was from my car. So I ran upstairs basically in my boxers to go see my car,” said Jake.
Earlier that morning, someone had broken into his car and had stolen his subwoofer and his two GoPro Hero threes, all of which coming to about 1,200 dollars of valuables. Later that morning, Jakob called the police to report the stolen items and contacted the landlords to obtain the camera footage from the camera above the garage.
However, on October 16th, Jake received a text from the Greeley police department informing him that they were no longer looking for the items he reported stolen. The reason they concluded the search for items was due to a lack of evidence from the scene and no camera footage.
“The worst part was I got $37 dollars from the insurance company for over a thousand dollars worth of stuff stolen. Not to mention the hundred I had to pay for the window,” said Jake.
Today, Jake still doesn’t have a subwoofer or his Go Pros, but he has a new sense of caution when he locks his car at night. Since the break-in, there has been a new security light added to the garage so our back parking lot is illuminated. In addition to the light being installed, Jake has informed the neighbors and housemates to remove any valuables from their cars in order to prevent this from happening to them.
Sadly, this warning was somewhat late for me personally. The following day, my car was also broken into and someone had stolen my tool bag, flashlight, and phone charger right out of my car. Personally, I did not file a police report because the individual only stole about $80 worth of stuff, and I still had a back windshield.
In November, Greeley PD announced an increase rate of theft and break-ins on campus and in the surrounding area. With this information, it has become apparent that the crime rate in Greeley was on the rise which raises many questions.
Tune in tomorrow to read an in-depth interview with the Weld County Sheriff’s departments public informant, Joe Moylan to find out what the department deduces as the cause for this increase.
Useful links:
Link to Greeley neighborhood group on Facebook. This is a great resource helping the community keep each other safe:
