At SUN’s regular Outreach and Block Captain Meeting, SUN gets updates from the Denver Police Department about crime in Stapleton. There have been a couple of consistent themes from these updates over the years: violent crime in Stapleton is low, but preventable property crime remains a consistent problem. SUN suggests the following five keys to reducing crime in our neighborhood:

Always lock all of your doors—to your car, your garage, and your home. This year, the Denver Police have been especially explicit about why our property crime rate is higher than it needs to be: some Stapleton residents do not lock their doors (garage, car and house), which makes our entire neighborhood a target. When criminals find easy targets (i.e., unlocked cars, garages and homes), they come back and word spreads quickly.

Report streetlight outages. Xcel Energy allows reporting of outages on their website at XcelEnergy.com. Denver Police advise us to report streetlights that are out immediately to get them fixed as soon as possible. Research has found a 20 percent reduction in crime thanks to streetlights.

Store the Police Department non-emergency line on your cell phone. The number is 720.913.2000.

If you park your car on the street, don’t leave valuables inside. That means no iPhones, iPods, iPads, money, jewelry, etc. Even leaving your garage remote in your car parked on the street can increase your risk as it allows criminals easy access to your garage.

If your block does not have a Block Captain, find one or become one. You can email sunoutreach@gmail.com to find out if your block needs a block captain, and if not, how easy of a job it is. SUN’s Outreach/Block Captain committee can be a great resource in getting your block organized through Neighborhood Watch, to host a block party, and more. SUN’s last survey showed that about half of us have a block captain and know who it is.

Stapleton is an urban neighborhood, which means that organized criminals can travel from one area to another, until they find an area that is an easy target. Please help ensure Stapleton is not seen as an easy target for crime.