TORRINGTON – A new spirit of teamwork and a commitment to handling lower-level crimes by the Torrington Police Department has led to a drastic decrease in the percentage of violent crimes in city limits and led to safewise.com naming Torrington the ninth safest city in Wyoming. 

During last week’s meeting of the Torrington City Council, Mayor Randy Adams told those assembled the city had seen a drop of more than 45 percent in part one crimes, which are serious crimes such as assault, larceny and battery. He also reported the city experienced a sharp, 770 percent increase in prosecutions of part two crimes, which are less serious, non-violent misdemeanor-level crimes – which indicates officers are fighting minor crimes before they become major. Those two statistics, he said, are remarkable. 

“Over the past year, serious crimes like aggravated assault, burglary, assault and larceny are down 45.5 percent,” Adams said. “That’s a remarkable drop. That’s nearly half of where we were. That means we have some officers in the police department who are taking care of the smaller crimes so they don’t turn into big crimes.”

Hurd credited the increase in part-two prosecutions to TPD officers getting out and working harder. And the subsequent decrease in the number of more serious, part one crimes directly correlates to the increased presence of officers on the street.

“Those (part-two) crimes were always out there,” Hurd said Monday. “No one’s going to break into your house when an officer is down the street, writing a ticket.”

Safewise.com compiled its ranking of the safest cities in Wyoming using the same set of data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to the site, Torrington’s violent crime rate was just 2.08 per 1,000 citizens, and the property crime rate was 10.70 per every 1,000 citizens. Lander took the top spot on the list, with no violent crimes. Of the cities on the list, only Green River had less property crimes – 9.03 per every 1,000 citizens. Torrington had the lowest median income on the list at $42,202.  

Hurd said those numbers mean a lot to the people of Torrington, not just because it means the TPD have been more proactive, but because it effects quality of life, property values and other important metrics. 

“For all of you who don’t understand what these numbers mean, you should,” Hurd said. “A chief should have come up here and explained how these numbers affect your property values and your insurance rates.

“Chiefs like me, we live and die over these statistics. I was brought here to make a lower crime rate and make some changes.”

One of the biggest changes, Hurd said, was issuing take-home patrol units to TPD officers. 

“One of changes was a headache, that was the-take home cars,” Hurd said. “There was criticism and there was doubt when we got the take-home cars. As you can see, officers that are pleased and happy with where they work, you can see the difference since September when they got the take-home cars.  

The statistics put Torrington well below the national average for major crimes. The key to dropping the number, Hurd said, is to be stricter on lower level crimes. 

That means that when part two crimes are enforced by officers who like what they do, like where they’re doing it and like who they’re working for, part one crimes should decrease. In this case, statistics prove correct. 

“We increased the part two crime enforcement,” Hurd said. “These are minor crimes. This is stuff where officers will get out of their car when they see something, and then they’ll enforce it. 

“These are things that people who commit these crimes understand. They go from one person to another and say ‘if you do something stupid in Torrington, you’re going to be charged with it. If you’re charged for that, think of what they’re going to do if you do something major?’”

It’s something Hurd and his officers take very seriously. His goal, and the department’s goal, is to make the major crime rate even lower in Torrington. 

“Anybody who hurts the people of Torrington, for me, doesn’t deserve to be in Torrington,” he said. “That’s how I feel about this, and so do the officers. So, when I stand up here and I preach about how happy the officers are and how good of a team we are, it doesn’t matter who the chief is – it’s teamwork. 

“This is what matters to this community. It’s how well we work together and the results that we get when we work together to make Torrington as safe as possible. This trend is going to continue. You’re going to see part one crimes continue to decrease. This is just the start.”

Adams made sure Hurd and the TPD know how grateful he is for their efforts. 

“I want the police department to know how much we appreciate that and for them to know they’re doing a great job,” Adams said.

For the full report, visit www.safewise.com/blog/safest-cities-wyoming/