A look into how Pueblo police targets repeat offenders

Police say they’re seeing many familiar faces because the majority of crimes in our neighborhoods are being carried out by the same people.

It’s not something we hear about often because it’s not something area police really discuss, but it’s something they’ve known about for years and are working to tackle.

If we named all the criminals in Pueblo and shared their charges, you’d find many are repeat offenders.

But we all deserve a second chance, right? Some have gotten more than that, including Jeffrey Romero. He was arrested in March last year on multiple drug and weapons charges

“We had actually gone to arrest him and had cases on him four different times,” said Sgt. Dennis Furbush with Pueblo police.

It was all while Romero was on parole for firing a gun at Furbush back in 2011.

He pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder. But to Furbush’s surprise, Romero was released from jail and placed on parole in 2017.

“It was frustrating to see him out so quickly,” Furbush said.

Romero was released but required to wear a GPS ankle monitor.

“Internally within our department, we realize we only have control over the work we do. We find people back on the streets rather quickly sometimes,” Furbush said.

But it didn’t stop Romero from his life as a criminal.

Last year, his parole officer was called to his RV after his GPS monitor malfunctioned. There, police found rifles, handguns, and evidence showing he was using and selling illegal drugs.

It was enough to land Romero back behind bars.

“He was sentenced to 64 years, so it’s going to be a long time before he is out this time,” Furbush said.

Because Romero had eight prior felony convictions, he was sentenced under the Habitual Offender Statute, Colorado’s equivalent to a “Three-Strike Law”.

Problem is — there are thousands of criminals out on our streets just like Romero.

“The majority of our work, we’ll see repeat faces, repeat names when we know their names, addresses and birthdays when we first encounter them on a call,” Furbush said.

The department’s latest annual report says more than half of all reported crimes in Pueblo were crimes against property.

“It can be anywhere from auto theft to burglaries, identity thefts all the way up to robberies and it is a problem,” said Sgt. Christopher Flores.

Flores says the people committing those crimes are also mostly repeat offenders.

“They’re a constant issue that keeps coming up,” he said.

There have been 150 habitual criminals sentenced in the past two years.

So what exactly does the Pueblo Police Department do to keep criminals from going back to their old habits? They partner with the FBI in a program called “Safe Streets Task Force” to target those criminals by posting their photos.

“One thing we try to do is work collaboratively with other agencies to know the whereabouts or keep tabs on them,” Flores said.

So far, they have more than a 90 percent success rate. But the program doesn’t work on all repeat offenders.

“You try to build a solid case and get them off the streets and make it a safer place to live and then come to find out that within weeks they’re right back out doing the same kind of stuff,” Flores said.

And police say they keep arresting the same people over, and over, and over again.