Quality of Life

Safe Community

Obtain Safest City Designation

Due: December 2021

Principle: Possessing the “Gold Standard” in public safety by meeting and exceeding standards set forth through the Commission of Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies to assist with the designation of one of the safest communities in Colorado.

Description

Implemented to improve the overall quality of crime data collected by law enforcement, the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) captures details on each single crime incident—as well as on separate offenses within the same incident—including information on victims, known offenders, relationships between victims and offenders, arrestees, and property involved in crimes. Unlike data reported through the UCR Program’s traditional Summary Reporting System (SRS)—an aggregate monthly tally of crimes—NIBRS goes much deeper because of its ability to provide circumstances and context for crimes like location, time of day, and whether the incident was cleared.

As recommended by professional law enforcement organizations, the FBI has made nationwide implementation of NIBRS a top priority because NIBRS can provide more useful statistics to promote constructive discussion, measured planning, and informed policing. The Arvada Police Department began submitting incident (NIBRS) data to the FBI on 1/1/2006.

Significance

The vision for NIBRS is for it to become the law enforcement community’s standard for quantifying crime, which will help law enforcement and communities around the country use resources more strategically and effectively. 

In 2018, approximately 44% of U.S. law enforcement agencies that participated in the UCR Program submitted data via NIBRS. Since then, the FBI has received thousands of commitments from law enforcement across the nation to be NIBRS-compliant by 2021. Ultimately, the national transition to NIBRS will further support the mission of the FBI’s UCR Program to generate reliable information for use in law enforcement administration, operation, and management.

Analysis

City

Population

Total Offenses

Offenses per Population 

(< is better)

Arvada

120,631

6,564

.0544

Aurora

372,824

28,851

.0773

Boulder

108,380

6,783

.0625

Denver

720,745

53,416

.0741

Ft. Collins

168,163

8,881

.0528

Pueblo

111,756

12,101

.1082

Westminster

113,751

7,283

.0640

Wheat Ridge

31,452

1,780

.0565

Lakewood 

not submitted 

not submitted

unknown

Arvada had the least amount of part one crimes per population in 2018 when compared to our neighbors and other larger municipalities in the state. Lakewood did not submit data to NIBRS in 2018. 

Work System
Performance Measures

Crime Rate

Crime Rate - Description

This performance measure focuses on comparing crime rates in Arvada to other front range municipalities, a national average and ICMA data. Crime in the United States is an annual publication in which the FBI compiles the volume and rate of violent and property crime offenses for the nation by state. Crime data are submitted either through a state Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program or directly to the FBI’s UCR Program. 


Maintaining a city safe from crime continues to be identified through the Community Survey as the most important function of City government. 


Crime Rate - Significance

The City of Arvada is committed to providing a safe place for people to live, visit and conduct business. 

It is important for community members to feel safe and to be safe.

Crime Rate - Analysis

Crime Rate - Data Source

Crime Rate - the ratio of crimes in an area to the population of that area; expressed per 1000 population per year. 


Arvada and all other municipality benchmark data comes from Crime in the United States document published each fall by the FBI. Please note that results are always lagging because of the time needed for reporting by the FBI.


ICMA data is provided through the ClearPoint Library


Code Compliance

Code Compliance - Description

 This performance measure analyzes data from the community customer relations management (CRM) system called Ask Arvada. 


Community members use the CRM to inform the city of potential code violations. Code Enforcement Officers are required to City Ordinances with regard to enforcement and providing time for residents to bring their property into compliance. Cases that require legal action through the Arvada Municipal Court  are bound by set timelines. 


The CRM tracks all requests from submission to case closure. Cases fall into "compliance" or  "summons" categories.

Code Compliance - Significance

The City's goal is to preserve our communities for a lifetime.  To achieve this, a City must maintain and enhance existing commercial and residential areas. Code Enforcement responds to and resolves enforcement issues, provides customer service and pro-actively removes illegal signage from the City right-of-way. 


Code Enforcement helps ensure a safe community and a high quality living environment for the residents of Arvada by implementing and enforcing nuisance codes and zoning ordinances. 

Code Compliance - Analysis

The reporting software for this FOCUS measure changed during the year which accounts for some of the changes in the data throughout the year. This measure is also affected by the amount of time required for warnings on violations prior to enforcement, which do not allow certain requests to be completed within the time frame specified in this measure. Due to these factors, this measure will be changed to reflect more accurate procedural requirements related to code enforcement requests.

Code Compliance - Data Source

Ask Arvada - Citywide CRM system