Calls to CSPD for assaults, crashes dropped during stay-at-home order
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — El Paso County is fighting to keep its bar, restaurant, and travel freedoms as new data shows COVID-19 cases trend upward, but one positive thing that came out of April’s stay-at-home order restrictions was a decrease in calls for service to Colorado Springs police.
The Colorado Springs Police Department got 24,209 calls for service in April. That’s fewer than any other month in 2020 so far.
Natashia Kerr, a spokesperson with CSPD, says traffic calls and reports of assault dropped significantly in April as well.
“A change that we really saw when the COVID pandemic hit was a change in traffic crashes,“ Kerr said. “Back in January, we had about 827 crashes. The next month was 824, so pretty steady.”
That was before the number of traffic crashes in Colorado Springs dropped dramatically in March and April.
“March hit, and that’s when COVID first started to come around, so we had 571 crashes,” Kerr said. “But then we get into April and we’re into more of the full-swing of everything, and we actually only had 328 crashes.”
Police say, although there were fewer crashes in March and April, more people were pulled over for going 100+ miles per hour on the highway.
“Cars weren’t there, some people just didn’t realize they were going that fast when you’re going the speed of traffic and not many cars are there,” Kerr said.
The police department says calls for assaults are now increasing slightly, while domestic violence cases are trending downward.
“COVID has taken up so much of the year, we can’t contribute it to one thing or another,” Kerr said.
CSPD data shows calls for service overall are leveling out to pre-pandemic volumes now.