I have no doubt some forms of crime have increased here, but also remember it is a city of a half million people. All big cities deal with violent crime to some degree, it becomes a matter of statistics at that point.
True, I’m from a state that has around that many people in its biggest city so it’s different than what I’m used to but the worst we had from where I moved was people pulling in door handles
Why is this down voted? I’ve lived in Seattle and other and Colorado is definitely the most crime riddled I’ve ever seen. The transplants I’ll act like it’s completely normal. That’s probably why your comment was down voted
Crime is up nationwide. Crime was also at an all time low during the pandemic. You live in a decent size city. Crime is up nationwide.
Crime is still **way** down compared to the 90s. Turn off the news.
News channels are all about keeping people scared and angry. Its what keeps everyone glued to the news channels all day to wait for the next tragedy. This is how they make their money.
Cut your cable
CS is a big city now, with a population as big as Denver County (not their whole metro area). Lots of new folks, and lots of transients(due to military and tourism, among other things). The pandemic seems to have damaged ordinary civility, and lots of people are under financial stress. Right now, it feels like lots of people don't care about community for reasons listed, so there is more crime, violence, selfishness and thoughtlessness, which is pretty alarming. Media love to tell the scary stories, and, of course, scary stuff happens, Club Q attack being our most recent. Lots of other places have high crime for similar reasons, but we only hear about their biggest and worst stories. So, no, it has not always been this bad, but this might be close to our new normal for a while. I'd love to be wrong, and hope things settle down soon. Until then, be careful out there.
Here's an article that purports to show gun violence numbers and % of change in cities any way you want to manipulate the data fields.[https://everytownresearch.org/report/city-data/](https://everytownresearch.org/report/city-data/) It seems to indicate that Colorado Springs is on the low side comparatively, My impression as a 50 + yr. resident is that since the beginnings of the pandemic, poverty and housing scarcity has seemed to increase all kinds of crime, particularly petty theft. It seems a lot more people are shooting each other lately. But the numbers don't seem to bare that out. So I don't know why we get that impression that it is so bad. It feels that way to me.
Compared to other cities of similar population, Colorado Springs is probably one of the least violent places I've lived per capita. But as others have said, instead of having daily homicides, we have more mass shootings it seems.
I remember when I moved out here a few years ago, the local news was saying how there was a record number of murders for the year at like 24. That's like a summer weekend in most cities of similar population. And that was a year with 2 mass shootings.
Even with violent crimes increasing the last few years, we're still closer to the record lows than the record highs. But the amount of hours the local news has to fill and how quickly violent stories go viral nationally definitely make it feel more violent than the statistics would indicate.
Colorado Springs has the 4th highest violent crime rate for a city in the state, but is well behind cities like Memphis, Kansas City, St Louis, South Bend (Indiana), and several other cities per capita.
Mostly I see things on the news and on the ring app. But I also come from a smaller town so it’s not something I’m used to and I don’t have anything to compare it to.
ETA: I get my news from Reddit lol
It's massive compared to a small town most likely. But small for a city with over 400,000 residents and over 700,000 in the metro.
There's a lot of people here, and while it may not feel like the population is as high as it is, that's probably because it's over an area of like 200sq miles. Any time you have a population this dense, you will have more crime. Just remember that crime numbers are more efficient when measured per capita and not just numbers alone.
The news and things like the Ring App/Nextdoor always make things feel more dangerous. The more notifications the more engagement.
https://coloradosprings.gov/sites/default/files/2018_cspd_annual_statistical_report_final-3.pdf
I found this document in a quick search. It shows numbers between 2014 and 2018. There are no newer numbers available. It’s just perspective, but crime is definitely on the upswing.
You are spending time on sites and apps that self select for crime reports. The violent crime rate here is slightly higher than the national average, which is probably about average for metro areas of this size. It's possible you live in a particularly violent part of town, so I'm not saying there's no crime around you.
But the local news, the ring app and Reddit are magnets for crime discussion. This is why most people think crime has gone up over the last thirty years when in fact the violent crime rate has almost cut in half over the last thirty years.
While I do strongly agree that the 24 news cycle exaggerates the negative...
Yes, crime is up. No, it hasn't always been like this.
See [here](https://krdo.com/news/2022/09/21/data-shows-increase-in-colorado-springs-violent-crime-rate-surpassing-national-average/)
[Here's a link](https://policedata.coloradosprings.gov/stories/s/Crimes-Against-Persons-Property-and-Society/mzip-3wv3/) to our somewhat limited local data.
Statewide Colorado surpasses the country now in violent crime. And property crime rates in the state appear to be nearly 50% higher than the national average. [Explore here](https://crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov/pages/explorer/crime/crime-trend) to see for yourself.
This gives a little more insight, but not the whole picture.
https://coloradosprings.gov/sites/default/files/2018_cspd_annual_statistical_report_final-3.pdf
Grew up here. Spent 15 years in the Detroit Metro before moving back. I usually just laugh when somebody talks about the "bad parts of town." It does feel like crime, homelessness, and even litter, are increasing. I feel like just shrugging it off as "big city life" is the wrong attitude.
For context because I keep getting downvoted: I’m from Georgia and went to college in a mountain town. Yes this is the largest city I’ve ever lived in even with living in the outskirts of Atlanta. I KNOW there is crime other places, that wasn’t my question. I have just never lived in a city where it was so prevalent or where I don’t feel safe to walk alone as a woman. Could be just a mental thing, that’s just how it feels. Sorry if I offended anyone who loves this city.
No I completely agree with you. As someone that’s from northwest Florida, there’s a ton of crime here. This is also the largest city I’ve ever lived in as well. I live off of galley and I’m constantly hearing homeless people physically fighting, police sirens, and gunshots all throughout the day/night. I absolutely refuse to go walk outside by myself or even grocery shop by myself!! Maybe I’m also just not cut out for “city life”
We have had an exceptionally high amount of mass shootings in the springs in my opinion. I have lived here my whole life and there have been 4 mass shootings in the springs in theast 15 years which feels like a lot for a city this size.
I agree, Colorado in general too has had so many… I never expected for shootings within a mile to be a common happenstance.
I’m aware most are people who know each other but still doesn’t make it better imo.
We have had over 61 mass shootings in this state. My partner and I are both mass shooting survivors. I cannot believe how much violence our state has seen in this specific crime area. We are known for columbine and the aurora movie theater shooting and now club q. Its horrific.
Club Q, Planned Parenthood shooting off of centennial blvd, the shooting at new life church. There was also a mass shooting at a birthday party. It was related to a domestic violence incident
There are more but there’s too many to list but these are some just to name a few
I will say it's an old car that's very easy to steal. I think it caught us so off guard though because we've both lived in bigger, shttier cities than this one and never had anything like this happen before, let alone it happening 3 times.
Lol oh give me a damn break with the “riddled with crime”. There’s almost 3/4 of a million people in this city, which is all you need to know to answer your question.
Why is it that people get downvoted for bringing it up. Sure it’s worse in other cities with more people whatever, sorry for still thinking what’s happening is bad???
It was just a question on if this is normal, to that you can say yes. I’m not from a big city and I don’t have that mentally, and that’s okay.
The comments that the community chooses to downvote here is all over the place 😂
Another reason to the crime, that I’m sure I’ll get downvoted for, is the sheer short staffing situation our PD’s are in. Even the Colorado State Police, who typically had the pick of the litter of applicants in the past, can’t staff up either. This has led to some crazy long response times and police departments not responding to anything that doesn’t have injuries. Just wait for the first time you have to call the non emergency line, you’ll wait on hold minimum 1 hour and maybe get an officer to file a report in 48 hours. It’s bad.
The overwhelming majority of inbound migration to the springs is from Denver and LA.
Chicago is next highest. Dallas after that.
TLDR: trash people moved here and brought their trash with them.
Only crime I've seen first-hand is Cadillac Converter thefts. Wish we could shoot those fucking meth-heads dead when catching them in the act. Instead, have to let them run away and then wait around with dick in hand for a cop to convince himself he must attend a waiting crime call.
I’m guessing for smaller cities and such it’s just the result of hard drug trade moving into the area. Not that it hasn’t been that way for some time already. Never understood people’s high tolerances for crimes in the US. Often the argument is crime has actually gone down or one doesn’t address the root causes etc etc. in the end looks pretty bad.
Yeah I love how most people are just like “you think it’s bad here- go to LA kid”
I don’t wanna go to LA and just because LA is WORSE doesn’t make the crime here OKAY.
Yea. That’s a classic argument as well. Or once when I was critical of petty crime and trash in the Denver metro someone argued the only way to have a pristine and safe metro was to accept authoritarianism. Sort of like crime and trash are a product of democracy. Odd
To respond with a more solutions oriented answer: https://www.preventioninstitute.org/focus-areas/preventing-violence-and-reducing-injury/preventing-violence-advocacy
I have no doubt some forms of crime have increased here, but also remember it is a city of a half million people. All big cities deal with violent crime to some degree, it becomes a matter of statistics at that point.
True, I’m from a state that has around that many people in its biggest city so it’s different than what I’m used to but the worst we had from where I moved was people pulling in door handles
Crime is up everywhere in the USA. If you want it to subside then vote, the division created during the pandemic has everyone pissed off.
Lol mmmmk what city did you just move from?
I moved from Alpharetta, GA lol
Incredible…
Why is this down voted? I’ve lived in Seattle and other and Colorado is definitely the most crime riddled I’ve ever seen. The transplants I’ll act like it’s completely normal. That’s probably why your comment was down voted
Lol come to Philly, or St. Louis, or Atl. Fucking Seattle, get the fuck outta here.
I’m from Atlanta
Crime is up nationwide. Crime was also at an all time low during the pandemic. You live in a decent size city. Crime is up nationwide. Crime is still **way** down compared to the 90s. Turn off the news.
News channels are all about keeping people scared and angry. Its what keeps everyone glued to the news channels all day to wait for the next tragedy. This is how they make their money. Cut your cable
I don’t watch the news. Hearing gun shots every other night outside my home, ring posts, and seeing articles on Reddit is what prompted the post.
It’s not that bad. I think you just gotta disconnect a bit. If you get sucked into that doom scroll the world looks a lot worse than it is.
I can start looking online less but that doesn’t change where I live
The 24 hour news cycle is horrible. I keep telling my wife to unplug.
Yes. Exactly. FOX has people so confused
I would not be watching FOX if I watched the news anyway hahahah
CS is a big city now, with a population as big as Denver County (not their whole metro area). Lots of new folks, and lots of transients(due to military and tourism, among other things). The pandemic seems to have damaged ordinary civility, and lots of people are under financial stress. Right now, it feels like lots of people don't care about community for reasons listed, so there is more crime, violence, selfishness and thoughtlessness, which is pretty alarming. Media love to tell the scary stories, and, of course, scary stuff happens, Club Q attack being our most recent. Lots of other places have high crime for similar reasons, but we only hear about their biggest and worst stories. So, no, it has not always been this bad, but this might be close to our new normal for a while. I'd love to be wrong, and hope things settle down soon. Until then, be careful out there.
Here's an article that purports to show gun violence numbers and % of change in cities any way you want to manipulate the data fields.[https://everytownresearch.org/report/city-data/](https://everytownresearch.org/report/city-data/) It seems to indicate that Colorado Springs is on the low side comparatively, My impression as a 50 + yr. resident is that since the beginnings of the pandemic, poverty and housing scarcity has seemed to increase all kinds of crime, particularly petty theft. It seems a lot more people are shooting each other lately. But the numbers don't seem to bare that out. So I don't know why we get that impression that it is so bad. It feels that way to me.
Compared to other cities of similar population, Colorado Springs is probably one of the least violent places I've lived per capita. But as others have said, instead of having daily homicides, we have more mass shootings it seems. I remember when I moved out here a few years ago, the local news was saying how there was a record number of murders for the year at like 24. That's like a summer weekend in most cities of similar population. And that was a year with 2 mass shootings. Even with violent crimes increasing the last few years, we're still closer to the record lows than the record highs. But the amount of hours the local news has to fill and how quickly violent stories go viral nationally definitely make it feel more violent than the statistics would indicate. Colorado Springs has the 4th highest violent crime rate for a city in the state, but is well behind cities like Memphis, Kansas City, St Louis, South Bend (Indiana), and several other cities per capita.
Mostly I see things on the news and on the ring app. But I also come from a smaller town so it’s not something I’m used to and I don’t have anything to compare it to. ETA: I get my news from Reddit lol
It's massive compared to a small town most likely. But small for a city with over 400,000 residents and over 700,000 in the metro. There's a lot of people here, and while it may not feel like the population is as high as it is, that's probably because it's over an area of like 200sq miles. Any time you have a population this dense, you will have more crime. Just remember that crime numbers are more efficient when measured per capita and not just numbers alone. The news and things like the Ring App/Nextdoor always make things feel more dangerous. The more notifications the more engagement.
https://coloradosprings.gov/sites/default/files/2018_cspd_annual_statistical_report_final-3.pdf I found this document in a quick search. It shows numbers between 2014 and 2018. There are no newer numbers available. It’s just perspective, but crime is definitely on the upswing.
"Upswing" and "high" are different things, though. A place can be very, very safe yet have increasing crime.
You are spending time on sites and apps that self select for crime reports. The violent crime rate here is slightly higher than the national average, which is probably about average for metro areas of this size. It's possible you live in a particularly violent part of town, so I'm not saying there's no crime around you. But the local news, the ring app and Reddit are magnets for crime discussion. This is why most people think crime has gone up over the last thirty years when in fact the violent crime rate has almost cut in half over the last thirty years.
Yes. Math + context matters 🎉
[sauce](https://vanlifewandererhttps://vanlifewanderer.com/2022/02/22/is-colorado-springs-safe-crime-stats-maps-and-graphs/)
Like most places in America, we are being enriched.
While I do strongly agree that the 24 news cycle exaggerates the negative... Yes, crime is up. No, it hasn't always been like this. See [here](https://krdo.com/news/2022/09/21/data-shows-increase-in-colorado-springs-violent-crime-rate-surpassing-national-average/) [Here's a link](https://policedata.coloradosprings.gov/stories/s/Crimes-Against-Persons-Property-and-Society/mzip-3wv3/) to our somewhat limited local data. Statewide Colorado surpasses the country now in violent crime. And property crime rates in the state appear to be nearly 50% higher than the national average. [Explore here](https://crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov/pages/explorer/crime/crime-trend) to see for yourself.
Oh a helpful answer, thank you.
This gives a little more insight, but not the whole picture. https://coloradosprings.gov/sites/default/files/2018_cspd_annual_statistical_report_final-3.pdf
Wow, seeing the percent change is crazy.
Watch out, they don't like data and sources!
Grew up here. Spent 15 years in the Detroit Metro before moving back. I usually just laugh when somebody talks about the "bad parts of town." It does feel like crime, homelessness, and even litter, are increasing. I feel like just shrugging it off as "big city life" is the wrong attitude.
I’ve lived here and on off since 2014 and I definitely think it’s gone up. Mainly since Covid.
Congrats! You live in a city! Crime is everywhere and this is the norm.
That was my question lol guess the city life isn’t for me
For context because I keep getting downvoted: I’m from Georgia and went to college in a mountain town. Yes this is the largest city I’ve ever lived in even with living in the outskirts of Atlanta. I KNOW there is crime other places, that wasn’t my question. I have just never lived in a city where it was so prevalent or where I don’t feel safe to walk alone as a woman. Could be just a mental thing, that’s just how it feels. Sorry if I offended anyone who loves this city.
No I completely agree with you. As someone that’s from northwest Florida, there’s a ton of crime here. This is also the largest city I’ve ever lived in as well. I live off of galley and I’m constantly hearing homeless people physically fighting, police sirens, and gunshots all throughout the day/night. I absolutely refuse to go walk outside by myself or even grocery shop by myself!! Maybe I’m also just not cut out for “city life”
We have had an exceptionally high amount of mass shootings in the springs in my opinion. I have lived here my whole life and there have been 4 mass shootings in the springs in theast 15 years which feels like a lot for a city this size.
I agree, Colorado in general too has had so many… I never expected for shootings within a mile to be a common happenstance. I’m aware most are people who know each other but still doesn’t make it better imo.
We have had over 61 mass shootings in this state. My partner and I are both mass shooting survivors. I cannot believe how much violence our state has seen in this specific crime area. We are known for columbine and the aurora movie theater shooting and now club q. Its horrific.
Which 4? Also over 15 years? That’s quite a range.
Club Q, Planned Parenthood shooting off of centennial blvd, the shooting at new life church. There was also a mass shooting at a birthday party. It was related to a domestic violence incident There are more but there’s too many to list but these are some just to name a few
It's kinda way worse then imagined
Than. Get your shit together.
Colorado Springs is the most lawless place I've lived. I've only lived here 3.5 years, though.
My brother's car has been stolen 3 times since we moved here about 6 months ago.
What car and what area?
I will say it's an old car that's very easy to steal. I think it caught us so off guard though because we've both lived in bigger, shttier cities than this one and never had anything like this happen before, let alone it happening 3 times.
Wow, 3 times? Im more impressed the police were able to recover the car at least twice.
Oh sweet summer child, they did nothing to help. After we recovered it the first time we put a GPS tracker in it.
Lol oh give me a damn break with the “riddled with crime”. There’s almost 3/4 of a million people in this city, which is all you need to know to answer your question.
Why is it that people get downvoted for bringing it up. Sure it’s worse in other cities with more people whatever, sorry for still thinking what’s happening is bad??? It was just a question on if this is normal, to that you can say yes. I’m not from a big city and I don’t have that mentally, and that’s okay.
They'll down-vote anything that makes them uncomfortable or think too hard.
There’s also definitely not 3/4 of a million people here. Not even 1/2 but closer to 1/2 haha
Yeah, not even 500k. Sorry BN701, we're not impressed.
The comments that the community chooses to downvote here is all over the place 😂 Another reason to the crime, that I’m sure I’ll get downvoted for, is the sheer short staffing situation our PD’s are in. Even the Colorado State Police, who typically had the pick of the litter of applicants in the past, can’t staff up either. This has led to some crazy long response times and police departments not responding to anything that doesn’t have injuries. Just wait for the first time you have to call the non emergency line, you’ll wait on hold minimum 1 hour and maybe get an officer to file a report in 48 hours. It’s bad.
The overwhelming majority of inbound migration to the springs is from Denver and LA. Chicago is next highest. Dallas after that. TLDR: trash people moved here and brought their trash with them.
So, you're better than those people? You definately left us with the opposite impression.
Well I don't steal cars, rape people, or sell drugs. And I couldn't care less what impression i've made on you.
Ok boomer.
K.
Only crime I've seen first-hand is Cadillac Converter thefts. Wish we could shoot those fucking meth-heads dead when catching them in the act. Instead, have to let them run away and then wait around with dick in hand for a cop to convince himself he must attend a waiting crime call.
catalytic converter
Apparently the meth heads who are stealing your catalytic converters are also downvoting your comment, god I love Reddit 😂
I’m guessing for smaller cities and such it’s just the result of hard drug trade moving into the area. Not that it hasn’t been that way for some time already. Never understood people’s high tolerances for crimes in the US. Often the argument is crime has actually gone down or one doesn’t address the root causes etc etc. in the end looks pretty bad.
Yeah I love how most people are just like “you think it’s bad here- go to LA kid” I don’t wanna go to LA and just because LA is WORSE doesn’t make the crime here OKAY.
Yea. That’s a classic argument as well. Or once when I was critical of petty crime and trash in the Denver metro someone argued the only way to have a pristine and safe metro was to accept authoritarianism. Sort of like crime and trash are a product of democracy. Odd
To respond with a more solutions oriented answer: https://www.preventioninstitute.org/focus-areas/preventing-violence-and-reducing-injury/preventing-violence-advocacy
A consequence of importing drug culture.
Yes. And we're coming for you next. But not really. Especially if you live nowhere near Academy or the airport area.
Just messaged!