{"id":72766,"date":"2016-12-29T21:27:47","date_gmt":"2016-12-30T04:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-marshal-reports-fewer-traffic-stops-more-property-crime\/"},"modified":"2016-12-30T04:27:47","modified_gmt":"2016-12-30T04:27:47","slug":"mancos-marshal-reports-fewer-traffic-stops-more-property-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/mancos-marshal-reports-fewer-traffic-stops-more-property-crime\/","title":{"rendered":"Mancos marshal reports fewer traffic stops, more property crime"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Mancos
Mancos Marshal Jason Spruell, left, swears in the newest member of the force, Estevan Valles, at the town board\u2019s Dec. 14 meeting. The marshal\u2019s department is now fully staffed with four officers.<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Mancos Marshal Jason Spruell gave a report to the board of trustees on Wednesday about the town\u2019s crime statistics going into his first year of office.<\/p>\n

Spruell was appointed marshal in May, and since then he has compiled a record of accidents, arrests and other police incidents within the town limits from 2004 to 2016. Among other things, the report showed that the number of arrests in town have fluctuated wildly over the years, while certain types of crimes have been steadily increasing or decreasing. Spruell gave the board some of his conclusions from the data, and he and the trustees discussed ways town residents can work with law enforcement to prevent crime.<\/p>\n

The town\u2019s law enforcement reported 56 arrests in 2015, the highest number since 2008, but only 35 in 2016. Spruell said those numbers had more to do with a style of reporting than anything else.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome prior marshals, if you issued somebody a summons\u2026they counted that as an arrest,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I was appointed marshal, I didn\u2019t like having summonses put in as arrests.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said the number of people working for the marshal\u2019s office has varied quite a bit over the years. Periods when the office is understaffed naturally show fewer arrests and citations.<\/p>\n

Traffic citations have gone down over the last 12 years, which Spruell attributed partly to the town installing more stop signs recently. But he said it\u2019s also part of his philosophy as marshal, since he doesn\u2019t believe in giving people tickets for minor, one-time offenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can give somebody a warning and it changes their behavior, then we\u2019re good to go,\u201d he said. \u201cNot everybody deserves a ticket.\u201d<\/p>\n

Property crimes, which got their own section of the report, can be anything that damages a resident\u2019s property, such as graffiti or other types of vandalism. These crimes have been going up steadily for the last five years, with 300 reported in 2016.<\/p>\n

But the most commonly investigated crime in Mancos over the last 12 years has been theft, Spruell said. The most common crimes for which people are actually arrested are domestic violence and assault. DUI arrests are also common, but he said incidents involving drunk drivers have gone down in recent years. Bartenders in town have started calling the marshal\u2019s office whenever someone leaves after drinking too much, and an officer gives them a ride home. The trustees commended Spruell for that policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s smart on all parts,\u201d Trustee Ed Hallam said.<\/p>\n

Mayor Ellen \u201cQueenie\u201d Barz asked whether the marshal\u2019s office has received many marijuana-related calls since legalization. Spruell said no.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main marijuana calls we have (are) prior grows,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd as long as people are in compliance with the laws, there\u2019s not much we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the office often receives calls from people who assume their neighbors are breaking the law because they don\u2019t realize it\u2019s legal to grow a certain number of marijuana plants in an enclosed area.<\/p>\n

Trustee Cindy Simpson asked how the town could educate the public to help prevent crimes like theft. Spruell said one important step is to remind people to lock the doors on their houses and cars.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s Mancos, but it\u2019s a new generation, it\u2019s a new century, and we have to lock our doors,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve had one individual that\u2019s been hit three times, and asked, \u2018why do they keep coming back?\u2019 Well, because they know you\u2019re not locking your door.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said it\u2019s important for residents to call the marshal\u2019s office immediately after a crime so that evidence doesn\u2019t get lost.<\/p>\n

\n

Who to call<\/h4>\n

To report a possible crime in Mancos, or to find out more about the marshal\u2019s office, call 970-533-1432. Marshal Jason Spruell\u2019s report on crime statistics can be found under the Dec. 28 board of trustees meeting agenda on the town website, www.mancoscolorado.com\/government. For emergencies, call 911.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Ignacio residents debate marijuana businesses<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

increase in property crime, warrants<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[168,13,83,51],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-72766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-crime","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-mancos","tag-police"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72766"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=72766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}