It isn’t often that the Cañon City Police Department is at full capacity with its allotment of officers, but that may change by the end of the year.
During a presentation by CCPD Commander Tim Bell and Crime Analyst Sterling Jenkins at Wednesday’s general government committee meeting, Bell said the department should be at full capacity with sworn officers by December as long as they don’t lose anyone.
There currently are eight cadets attending police academys, seven of whom are at Pikes Peak State College and one is at the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.
The cadets are expected to complete their certifications and training by May 15, and then they will begin their four-week mini academy and field training with the CCPD.
“We should be at full strength by December, everybody on the road,” Bell said. “As long as we don’t lose anybody else, we should be good to go as far as sworn officers.”
Jenkins offered a presentation on the current facts and figures regarding the patrol division, which is staffed with:
- Four patrol sergeants
- Eleven patrol units (a unit equals one officer per patrol vehicle or two officers per patrol vehicle for FTO units). Three units are currently staffed with one field training officer and one trainee.
- One K-9 team (one officer/one K-9) that concurrently works in a patrol officer capacity.
Patrol shifts currently work 12-hour shifts from either 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. or 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Each shift is assigned a sergeant supervisor, with an average of three officers scheduled per shift.
In the first quarter of this year, 839 case numbers were generated from 5,861 calls for service and self-initiated activities. This number includes criminal, non-criminal and traffic incidents. Compared to the last quarter of 2024, incidents are down 4% – with 6,133 incidents in the last quarter of 2024 – but arrests are up 8%. There were 307 arrests the first quarter this year, and there were 284 in the prior quarter.
Jenkins said one case can oftentimes generate five to seven charges.
Looking at crime trend comparisons between the last quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, the following crimes have decreased: destruction/damage/vandalism of property, aggravated assault, larceny from motor vehicles, credit card/ATM fraud, and impersonation. The following crimes have increased: intimidation, burglary/breaking and entering, shoplifting, identity theft, and family offenses – nonviolent.
There were 13 motor vehicle thefts from Jan. 1 through March 31.
“We oftentimes have people that lend their car to someone that may be a friend or family member, that person doesn’t return that car, that is reported as a motor vehicle theft, and technically it is, but what we’re not seeing is stranger on stranger offenses to a high degree,” Jenkins said.
Even with a smaller staff, the CCPD’s response time average in Quarter 1 of this year was two minutes and 43 seconds, Jenkins said. Most calls – 75.69% – are responded to between zero and two minutes.
“If you look at the incidents and the cases, we are responding rapidly and then on scene for at least 30 minutes to investigate that call for service,” he said.
Clearance rates for property crime are traditionally between 35-39%, while national averages can be as low as 17%, Jenkins said. Having a smaller suspect pool helps with closing out cases.
“A lot of times, 10% of our suspects are committing 90% of the crimes,” Jenkins said. “Living in a smaller jurisdiction, we are able to clear cases fairly quickly just by developing suspect pools and developing those patterns.”
When suspects are in jail, crime numbers tend to drop.
“Oftentimes, when we clear a crime spree, we will not see that exact same crime for at least a week or more because they don’t have the opportunity to commit the crime anymore,” Jenkins said.
The community can help by reporting crimes they may see on their Ring app, something most people tend to share on social media but not report to the police.
“Please, if it’s happening to you, please make sure that you are reporting it,” City Administrator Ryan Stevens said. “As you can see, we have a data system that helps Sterling and the police department do their job and track people.”
The CCPD began using a new statistical management system in May 2024, so beginning May 4, Jenkins will have one full year of official data in the new system to start looking at trends.
Another new program, Citizen Connect, will be released to the public later this spring.
“Citizens will be able to go into this mapping software system and look at incidents and cases in their jurisdictions,” Jenkins said.
Bell said the system will cover everything for which the regional dispatch center dispatches, including Cañon City, Fremont County, Florence and Custer County.
For the protection of victims and witnesses, the maps won’t pinpoint a specific address for safety reasons. All incidents will plot to the center of a 250,000-square-foot grid. More specific information can be requested through the records department at the CCPD.
Certain juvenile crimes, sex cases and other sensitive cases will not be on the maps for the protection of the victims and witnesses.
The site will include tools for the public to be able to look up incidents within a specified time range and also by type of incident, and it is expected to be updated every 15 minutes.
“This is a powerful tool that’s been developed quickly,” Jenkins said. “We’ve worked well with FreCom and other agencies in order to develop this. We’ve all met and agreed on what we will show and how it will show. I am excited for it to finally be released later this spring.”
