Aurora zeros in on gang crime count

Report follows brawl after game at Eaglecrest High

By April M. Washington, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Brian Lehmann / Special To The Rocky

Jennifer Taylor, left, is a recreation assistant at Aurora's Moorhead Recreation Center who helps provide young people with alternatives to steer them away from gang activity. Maribel Juarez, 10, center, jokingly attempts to persuade Taylor to let her take some cupcakes home. Moorhead is a place where kids can get off the streets and engage in positive, supervised activities.

Gangs committed just 2.64 percent of major crime here last year, but it was violent: Four of the city's 14 murders and more than half of the nonfatal shootings were gang-related.

"The gang presence is small, but it's a significant law enforcement problem," Police Chief Daniel Oates said Tuesday.

"With regard to violent crimes, it almost certainly involves gang- on-gang violence in which both sides are typically embroiled in a dispute," said Oates. "We're not talking about gangs, in most cases, targeting innocent victims."

The findings were released Tuesday in a comprehensive report on gang crime, touted by Aurora lawmakers as the first of its kind in the region.

It comes on the heels of Sunday night's brawl involving 25 suspected gang members after a youth basketball game at Eaglecrest High School.

In March, a gang-related shooting at Highland Hollow Park in southeast Aurora resulted from a confrontation involving 60 young people.

The city counts 1,549 known gang members, but many of them cross city boundaries, coming from Thornton, Westminster and Denver, according to Aurora police. A number of Hispanic gangs from Longmont and Greeley also shuffle in and out of Aurora.

Statewide, there were 12,741 confirmed gang members in 110 street gangs, according to figures released last year by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

In Denver last year, police reported at least eight suspected gang homicides, including the New Year's shooting of Broncos player Darrant Williams outside a night club.

There were nine gang killings in Denver in 2006.

In Jefferson County, sheriff's spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said gangs are not a major issue there.

"We're certainly not impacted by gang violence like in some areas of the state," she said.

Adams County recorded one gang homicide in 2007.

In Colorado Springs, a September 2007 report said gang members numbered around 450 for the five previous years.

"The reality is gang activity is an issue for everyone," said Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier. "I hope (this report) sends a message throughout all metro-area jurisdictions that we can't lose sight of any type of violent activity, let alone any violent gang activity.

"A report like this gives a detailed snapshot of what's actually going on in the streets."

Aurora began collecting and analyzing crime data last year to get a handle on how big a problem gang activity is in the city of 309,000.

Aurora's gang unit, which has been beefed up to 11 officers, has targeted three gangs, including one with 12-15 mostly young members and a larger gang whose members are 20 and older and deal in narcotics and weapons.

What's missing from the report is the identity of gangs. Oates said that is done on purpose so as not glorify them.

The initiative required every police report to indicate whether a crime was gang-related.

Previously, officers did not always list whether crimes were committed by gang members, leading to inconsistent information and enforcement, city officials said.

Oates said the report enables the department to direct resources where most needed.

The Rev. Leon Kelly, of Open Door Youth Gangs Alternatives, praised Aurora for its work in addressing the issue head-on but said more needs to be done to curb violent gang activity spreading to affluent parts of the city and elsewhere.

"If Aurora is having this type of activity, you can only imagine what Denver and other cities are going through," he said. "Keep in mind the report only includes reported gang activity. There's much more that goes unreported."

washingtonam@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5086 Staff writer Hector Gutierrez contributed to this report.

2007 report highlights

2.64 percent of major crimes were committed by gang members; 4.61 percent of arrests involved a gang member.

576 gang members were arrested by police.

1,549 confirmed members of criminal street gangs were identified.

300 -plus street gangs are being tracked by Aurora police.

18.44 percent was the reduction in major crime in the past two years, which Aurora credits to cutting-edge technologies and strategies.

Gangs and crime in Aurora, 2007

CRIME / TOTAL / GANG-RELATED / PERCENT OF TOTAL

* Murder/ 14 / 4 / 28.3%

* Sex assault / 193 / 8 / 4.2%

* Robbery / 585 / 40 / 6.8%

* Aggravated assault / 909 / 170 / 18.7%

* Nonfatal shootings / 44 / 25 / 56.8%

* Burglary / 2,362 / 55 / 2.29%

* Larceny / 7,890 / 69 / 0.87%

* Auto theft / 1,729 / 15 / 1.09%

• April 30, 2008

  1 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  angryman1n writes:

  Well at least they aren't looking for a quick buck????

  Gotta be the only criminals that aren't. Don't even deserve the term gangsters. Gangsters were organized, dedicated, and motivated. These are just a bunch of violent thugs.

• April 30, 2008

  4:05 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  LOUIE writes:

  Want a solution? Pray that God gives you the courage and strenth to walk into thier midst, and not see a color; maybe you will live long enough to help one kid, who made a bad choice.

• April 30, 2008

  6:12 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Vector049 writes:

  Zero tolerance. Hold a Star Chamber and eliminate this scum.

• April 30, 2008

  7:05 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  sheepherder writes:

  I think Aurora is playing with some numbers, or what they have classified as "gang crime." I'm with Vector and smallblocks!

• April 30, 2008

  7:19 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Coco writes:

  What's a "Star Chamber"?

• April 30, 2008

  10:42 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  sheepherder writes:

  It's from a Joseph Wambaugh novel. A group of judges would have people executed if they thought they were guilty but escaped justice. Was made into a movie to...70's I think.

• April 30, 2008

  10:47 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Ztliano writes:

  Public Hanging's for Aurora Gang Members is in order here! Let's hang these thugs in the Macy*s Parking Lot.!!!! :)

• April 30, 2008

  1:01 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  bluice writes:

  I think all gangs and gang activiity should fall under the title of terrorism. Then it should be governed by our terrorist laws.

• April 30, 2008

  3:56 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  SeaBass writes:

  Aurora is a cesspool of crime, gangs, and sprawl. Wiping that toxic waste dump of a town off the map would do wonders for this state.

• April 30, 2008

  5:01 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  happymike44 writes:

  All I know is I am glad for the right to bear arms.Let them shuffle off the mortal coil.How about just rounding them up and dropping them on Iraq.These guys are a wart on the butt of humanity.

• April 30, 2008

  8:27 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  samsmargolis writes:

  "It comes on the heels of Sunday night's brawl involving 25 suspected gang members after a youth basketball game at Eaglecrest High School."

  I still suspect the "men dressed in red" so eloquently noted by the sheriff previously were actually British Redcoats.

  Wow. Leon Kelly is still alive. Good for him.