The Wheat Ridge Police Department has seen some impressive progress in crime rates since a peak in 2021. Overall, crime was down 26% in 2023 since that peak, but one category remains stubbornly high: theft.
For context, we separate motor vehicle theft and theft in our statistics. In 2023, the Wheat Ridge Police Department saw 728 thefts reported to our department, a five-year high. Theft can account for everything from pickpocketing to bad actors scamming people out of money. The trend that we’re noticing is a spike in retail theft.
In 2023, 53% of thefts reported to our department came from businesses. And while overall crime is down 10% in Wheat Ridge so far in 2024, theft is up about 5%.
You may notice that we are highlighting individual cases more on social media or talk about this in the news. We want to get the message out: stop stealing in Wheat Ridge. Our businesses, big and small, don’t deserve the impact on their bottom line whether something is worth $20 or $2,000.
We’re not going to tolerate that behavior in our city.
This year, we have been focusing on proactive policing. Part of that means having officers patrol through bigger stores like King Soopers and Walgreens to deter people from getting ideas about shoplifting. You may also see more of our patrol cars parked outside some of these stores as a warning sign to potential thieves.
Another part of being proactive is embedded in our creed of Relationship-Based Policing. We are working with these retailers to establish a connection, so that if they see someone shoplifting in real time, they know to give us a call with a description and location. This communication and coordination is already leading to better outcomes.
In August, our Crime Prevention Team partnered up with loss prevention teams with multiple stores at the Applewood Village Shopping Plaza off Youngfield St., including King Soopers, Hobby Lobby, Sierra Trading Post, AppleJack Liquors and Five Below.
We set up direct lines of communication with these businesses and coordinated when there were any thefts in progress. On top of our Crime Prevention Team, we had four detectives and several officers standing by to pick up suspects as they were leaving the store.
In total, we made six arrests in one afternoon. The majority came from King Soopers and another arrest was made outside Sierra Trading Post as a man was accused of stealing $278 worth of outdoor equipment.
We were pleased to partner with these businesses and will build off this strategy with more proactive operations in the future.
