Welcome to the Mesa County Sheriff's Office!
Celebrating Community Outreach
By Deputy Chad Williams
As we move into 2012, we take a moment to reflect on the accomplishments of 2011 and look to raise the bar for community and business outreach at the sheriff's office in the coming months. At this point in 2011, we sought to develop strategies and programs that better serve our county citizens and businesses. We believe in a proactive approach to community outreach that develops relationships, fosters communication, and delivers training to community groups and businesses...in effect working as partners in crime prevention and incident management.
To that end, we were able to work with several thousand citizens and business leaders in Mesa County through community meetings, county neighborhood watches, crime prevention trainings, business workplace violence trainings and program development, children's programs, safety checks, community group seminars, and many more events. At the end of the day, our community outreach program's measured success in 2011 is a direct reflection on those groups and citizens we partnered with. It has been an incredibly rewarding experience for our deputies and our command! We would like to take this time to thank you and look forward to even more partnership in 2012!
Marijuana Impaired Driving
by Sheriff Stan Hilkey
There is little doubt that Marijuana has been and will continue to be a hot topic of this decade. Conversations are occurring with families around the dinner table and at very big picture, national levels and everywhere in between. No matter where you have the conversation, or who you have it with, the real challenge is applying a "fact filter" on everything you hear.
The attached article about driving under the influence of marijuana is compelling because it is founded in research and data rather than emotion and rhetoric. This is the type of information that should be at the root of these conversations both at the dinner table and at the Capital. It is this kind of material that should inform us as voters next year when we are asked to legalize marijuana all together.
Finally, as sure as the sun will come up again tomorrow, any effort to share this type of information invites all those proponents of marijuana legalization, fueled with emotion, to lash out and attempt to muzzle the effort. It has happened in the past, I have zero doubt that it will continue to happen in the future. The trouble with this debate is that even when you want to keep the conversation at a high, public policy level, you end up making individuals feel like a villain. Much like many of the people that use alcohol that are not villains, the same can be said for marijuana users. (Please do not attempt to characterize that last sentence as all-encompassing though, it should go without saying that alcohol and drug addictions produce many villains and villainous acts that cause many, many community problems.) I have no desire to vilify individuals...whenever I express my well known opinion on marijuana legalization, it is about the public policy implications of "widening the net" of community problems that cost lives, resources, and money to deal with.
Enough said for now, enjoy the read and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.
SH
Understanding and Responding to Graffiti-based Crimes
by Deputy Chad Williams
Today in Mesa County, law enforcement and local citizens are dealing with an increase in nuisance crimes related to graffiti-based vandalism. Understanding graffiti and instituting a partnered approach to abatement is the best way to deter such crimes and hold those responsible for “tagging” our community accountable for their crimes.
There are several kinds of graffiti and the term refers to several forms of vandalism, from large spray paint murals (about 5% of graffiti nationally and almost non-existent locally) to "tagging", or quick scrawls of a name using a spray can, marker or etching implement (accounts for almost all local graffiti).
Tagging is the quickest, easiest, most pervasive and most expensive form of graffiti vandalism, and is like logo placement or brand advertising. The primary goal of tagging is to advertise the vandal's "tag" (or street name) and "crew" (tagging group or gang set) and get recognition from others for prominent placement of tags throughout the city. A tag in a location is a challenge or an invitation for another tagger to tag the same spot, either challenging the original tagger's ownership of the spot or reinforcing that ownership. In some cases, tagging is gang-related and marks a gang's territory, but often is solely for self-promotion. Taggers who cover a lot of territory or place tags in risky, high visibility locations get more recognition for their efforts.
Responding to graffiti is based on the three R’s approach:
- Report. Upon finding graffiti on public or private property, contact non-emergency dispatch to have a deputy respond and take a report. The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office tracks taggers, tagger crews, and gangs. Reporting graffiti-based crime is an important first step in a longer term response.
- Record. The responding deputy will photograph the graffiti for the case file. It is a good idea for you to also photograph the graffiti for insurance purposes if necessary.
- Remove. Quickly removing graffiti, whether on your own or by utilizing our graffiti abatement program, works to invalidate a tagger’s work. Mesa County offers an abatement program that will remove graffiti from your property free of charge. For more information, call 970-243-WASH.
Preventative Measures:
- Quick removal
The best prevention is the quick removal of tags or graffiti, since the primary goal of graffiti vandals is for their "work" to be seen. If graffiti is removed quickly, there's less payoff for the risk and work involved. - Increase risk of discovery
By installing motion-sensing lights and removing shrubs or bushes that conceal graffiti vandalism in progress, you increase the risk for anyone considering tagging your property, thereby making your property less appealing. - Make it difficult and unappealing
Repair broken fences and remove any objects that could make it easy to gain entry to your property. Install low, dense, thorny bushes around walls to make it difficult to get in close enough to tag. Plant ivy or other wall-climbing plants to make the "blank canvas" of your wall less appealing.
The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office offers classes in understanding and deciphering graffiti and how to respond to graffiti-based crimes most effectively. The course also shows parents what to look for if they suspect their children may be involved in gang activity or graffiti-based crimes. For more information, contact Deputy Chad Williams at 970-244-3500 or chad.williams@mesacounty.us.
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