By Jon Huang
Sgt. Kurt Smith, public information officer for the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, said the crime data gathered by police departments is fed both into the state reported database and the community crime map website mentioned in the initial report. EPSO will use this data to guide the department’s Intelligence-Led Policing initiative. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, ILP is a law enforcement approach to crime that focuses resources based on the most prevalent offenses occurring in their jurisdiction.
Part of this involves leveraging data analytics to determine where to focus resources, Smith said. For example, EPSO’s crime analysts will track and use this information to help the department determine where to position more patrol units. This information is also used by EPSO’s Crime Intelligence Unit to study pattern crimes like car break-ins or motor vehicle thefts to determine if the perpetrators are part of a larger group.
Smith also pointed out that from a police standpoint, certain types of crimes are person or situation specific, such as domestic violence. Because of this, there aren’t resources they can employ as far as personnel to prevent future cases.
“Most of the time, it’s a couple that we are well aware of or it’s random,” he said. “You don’t know who’s going to do that; and, on any given night, you don’t know if it’s going to be in this area or that area. It’s like homicide. It’s really dependent on the people.”
Hence, law enforcement measures to prevent repeat offenses often fall on the legal side in prosecuting crimes in a way that will deter future behavior.
In addition, Smith said it’s not uncommon to see larger yearly fluctuations in categories with smaller numbers; because of that, they can look more serious than they really are. Another consideration in the data is that it reflects what law enforcement gathers at the initial scene of the crime but does not include relevant or subsequent charges that are discovered in any later investigation.
He gave an example of a case where there is a theft of $100,000, in which identity theft or money laundering might later be discovered. The case might be reported as theft.
“That’s where it may be off a little bit because it’s what they title it or the highest charge,” Smith said. “If theft is 100,000, it’s a very serious charge compared to identity theft. These are the initial case reports and the initial classification of the crime.”
In EPSO’s data, domestic violence and non-DV related assaults are separated, but on the community crime map data, there is no separate DV category; however, they are included in the simple and aggravated assaults categories. In addition, assault could also include fights in schools since EPSO deputies cover these through their School Resource Officers program.
The column below is the EPSO patrol district data provided by Smith as a comparison to the data from the Community Crime Map, bearing in mind that 2024 remains ongoing. The first column is patrol district 4, which includes Falcon but also extends east into Peyton, Ellicott and the county border. The second column is patrol district 2, which includes Black Forest and other regions. Thus, the primary difference in reporting is that EPSO data includes additional areas besides Falcon and Black Forest areas.
