Q&A: Safety in Fort Collins
Let’s talk safety.
With crime rate on the rise in Colorado, Fort Collins’ rate is higher than 76% of all Colorado cities. The chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime in FoCo is 1 in 35.
Daniel Crump is a senior civil engineering major at Colorado State University and has lived in Fort Collins for almost four years. He grew up in Littleton, CO before moving to FoCo for school and has one more year at CSU before graduation.
The following was a live interview with Crump regarding how safe he perceives Fort Collins to be.
Q: How safe do you feel here in Fort Collins?
A: Super safe. Like I’m not really scared of anything bad happening to me here.
Q: Crime rates in Colorado are increasing much faster than the rest of the country. Why do you think that is?
A: I don’t know, there’s a lot of people moving here so maybe that could be it.
Q: You’re from Littleton, right? How does it compare to Fort Collins in terms of safety?
A: Littleton feels safer but that’s just ‘cause this is a college town and that like instantly means more crazy stuff goes down.
Q: Do you feel that the Fort Collins Police Department and CSUPD are doing enough to keep students and other residents safe?
A: Yeah, I think so. I know CSU has Safe Walk that helps students get home safely, and they also have Ram Ride to stop drunk drivers. I always see police around town so I think they’re doing their job.
Q: Traffic and property crimes are some of the most common crimes here in FoCo. Have you ever had your house or car broken in to?
A: No, but I have had my bike stolen and know a lot of people who have had that happened to them here.
Q: There was a recent shooting of a CSU student in October. What was your reaction when you found out about it?
A: I woke up to alerts on my phone about an active shooter…I was shocked because this is Fort Collins and I feel like we’re known for being pretty safe. I know lots of people who live super close to where that was so it’s scary to think that it could’ve happened to one of my friends or even me.
Q: I felt the same way, it was right down the street from my apartment. So, did that impact how safe you felt in FoCo?
A: Well it made me feel like I needed to be more careful and double check to lock my doors. It didn’t seem like something like that could happen here, but it did…so yeah I guess it made me feel a little unsafe. Everyone was so shook by it and it was a big deal for a lot of people. Stuff like that happens in America all the time and it really sucks. We’re not immune to it just ’cause we live in FoCo.
Q: There’s been a decent amount of shootings and other violent crimes around here lately, do you still feel unsafe or was it just after that incident?
A: I felt more unsafe after that but…I don’t feel like scared all the time. It’s concerning but I don’t think about it that much. You can’t just live your life in fear, bad stuff happens everywhere all the time.