Crime rates across the United States have been on the decline due to the stay at home order in place for many communities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cities heavily affected by the virus, including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City, have experienced a major drop in crime rates since being hit by COVID-19.
The decrease in crime rates can be attributed to fewer drug arrests along with a drop in murder, assault and robbery. Traffic violations and DUIs have been less common as many people no longer have to commute to school or work during this time.
With fewer stores open, shoplifting and theft has also been on the decline. Because more people are staying in their homes all the time, residential burglary rates have also been on the decline.
Overall, many communities across the country are experiencing a major decline in crime rates as people stay inside, avoid gatherings with crowds, and stick to the social distancing guidelines.
However, in many communities, domestic violence cases and disturbance calls have increased in number.
“We have seen an increase in calls for suspicious people or activities as well as an increase in disturbance calls, both domestic disturbance and noise disturbance. Both of those increases are likely a result of people being inside more than usual at times when they wouldn’t normally be at home,” said Lieutenant Gwen Smith from the Laramie Police Department.
Though there has been an increase in disturbance calls, there has been a decrease in arrests made through many police departments. Police departments across the country have been making fewer arrests intentionally to avoid spreading the virus to jails.
“Part of that is due to the decrease in call load, we aren’t responding to as many service calls. Part of that is also because when we are going to arrest someone we contact the county attorney and communicate with her to balance the amount of arrests made and the amount of room in the jails,” Smith said.
Due to overcrowding being a major concern during the pandemic, communication between county attorneys and the police departments has been a large part of keeping everyone involved safe and healthy.
Alongside a decrease in arrest rates, there is also a decrease in service calls due to the temporary decrease in population as college students return to their hometowns during this time. With the University of Wyoming, Wyotech and Laramie County Community College all switching to online-only classes, many students have returned to their hometowns which has led to a decline in service calls.
“We have had fewer calls for service overall, which makes sense when the University and LCCC and Wyotech are all closed down. That is a significant number of individuals who aren’t in the community,” Smith said.
With students from all three colleges leaving the Laramie area, service calls for residence halls and campus grounds have significantly declined. This has led to an overall decline in crime rates as such a large population of the community has returned to their hometowns.
“The change to online classes and departure of the majority of our students from the residence halls has led to significantly less activity in the department,” said Chad Baldwin stated as he discussed the impact to the University of Wyoming Police Department.
Both the Laramie Police Department and University of Wyoming Police Department have experienced a lessening in service calls due to such a large number of students departing the area. This has allowed both departments to focus on keeping community members both safe and healthy as they continue to work to provide for the community.
