Officials with the Montezuma County District Attorney’s Office told commissioners during Monday’s workshop that they’ve seen an increase in serious crimes over the past year, with a notable uptick in juvenile handgun cases.
“What we’ve seen is an increase in the types of seriousness,” 22nd Judicial District Office Manager Clarisa Osborn told the Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners.
“We’re not getting as much low-level crime. We’re getting a lot of more serious cases. One main concern is we have a lot of juveniles with handguns.”
Although she noted “quite a few filings over the summer,” Osborn said filings haven’t necessarily increased compared with previous years. She suggested the office may have a lower overall caseload this year.
Osborn said the office’s juvenile attorney was meeting with law enforcement and the court to discuss the increase in juvenile firearm cases.
The notable rise mirrors recent trends in neighboring San Juan County, New Mexico, where youth shootings, beyond simply youth possession of firearms, have increased.
In September, Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe called a recent surge in shootings involving teenage suspects “really alarming but not totally unexpected.”
Both Osborn and District Attorney for the 22nd Judicial District, Jeremy Reed, said some youth likely stole guns from unlocked vehicles. Guns were also taken from households, Reed added.
Reed said the DA Office’s diversion program has been successful in keeping youth out of the criminal justice system as adults.
Reed added that the increase in severe cases doesn’t necessarily indicate a broader shift in crime rates.
“I don't think we've really seen more cases coming in, and in my experience, these things can be cyclical,” Reed told the BOCC. “We'll have a stretch of more serious things, and then it'll hopefully calm down again.”
He said the office is “currently pending three first-degree homicides.”
