At a recent meeting of the Boulevard Neighborhood Association with City Councilor Melissa Youssef, a variety of city issues was discussed. Among the observations made were the increasing numbers of homeless people on Durango’s streets. Residents also shared concern about recent crime on the Boulevard and in other Durango neighborhoods. We stressed how our association encourages residents on East Third Avenue to report any and all criminal activity to the police. While many residents are reluctant to report crime for a variety of reasons, contacting the police is critical to ensure community safety. Our association applauds our police chief, Kamram Afzal, for his foresight in filling a police crime analyst position (Durango Herald, March 16) and his desire to be more transparent by making crime statistics available to the community.
Unless all crime is reported, any database will lack validity and fail to provide the community and police department with an important tool to ensure our community safety. We are looking forward to the report being made public in the near future.
Brieanne Stahnke, Karen Anesi, Tony Rocha, Kathy Gervais and Mike Todt
Durango
