With two months of social distancing reaching a point of lessened severity, the Verde Valley is experiencing an end of an unusual period in its history.
While public health experts insisted that the shutdown of normal life and requiring people to stay in their homes was necessary to prevent a potential outbreak of the coronavirus, some suggested it could lead to adverse side effects such as increased crime, especially as police departments made efforts to cite but not arrest law-breakers whenever possible in order to avoid overcrowding in the jails.
However, as Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s executive orders urging people to stay at home expired and businesses return to somewhat more normal operations, data at local law enforcement agencies suggest that there was no significant increase in crime in the Verde Valley during the period of social distancing.
“There has not been a significant increase in activity,” wrote Administrative Lt. Stephen Butler, of the Camp Verde Marshal’s Office. “In the month of March 2020, there were 12 reports of assault-related cases [this includes domestic-violence- related cases], there were six reports of burglary related cases, [and] there were 19 reports of theft related cases. In the month of April 2020, there were 14 reports of assault related cases …. there were four reports of burglary related cases, [and] there were eight reports of theft-related cases.
“As you can see, we did not have a ‘spike’ of any real significance. In fact there was a decline in thefts.”
Butler’s assessment was mirrored by other local police departments.
“We have noticed calls for service have declined,” Cottonwood Police Department Sgt. Chad Sinn wrote. “Some agencies have said they have seen increases but we have not.”
“Our small town hasn’t seen the same type of spikes as many other jurisdictions,” Sedona Police Department Chief Charles Husted wrote.
“We are seeing the same thing — a slight decrease in general criminal incidents,” wrote Dwight Develyn, public information officer for the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office. “On the other hand, some of the incidents have been very serious.”
With so many families choosing to confine in their homes for the social distancing period, domestic violence was a real fear, with the potential of angry disputes within households becoming dangerous. However, data does not suggest a significant spike in that form of crime either.
“We looked at our domestic violence calls for service and also arrests in domestic violence incidents from the first four months of this year and also since Gov. Ducey signed the first quarantining order in March,” wrote Johannah Rutschow, Victim Advocate for the Cottonwood Police Department, in an email. “We compared those numbers to the same time frame in 2018 and 2019 and have no increase. There is in fact a slight decrease, but I don’t know that the decrease is statistically significant.”
The Verde Valley Sanctuary, which takes in victims of domestic violence, did however report an increase of 3.5% in hotline calls since the pandemic started,suggesting that there may be some increase in cases that do not involve the police.
“I can’t say that I can draw any real inferences from these numbers without some solid research,” Rutschow wrote. “However, I think it’s important to note that our small community has been working hard to still offer services to our citizens. There are many resources still available in Cottonwood that help mitigate the stress and anxiety that comes with uncertain times.”
