So far this year, Cortez’s Municipal Court had a heavier load of cases compared with the same time in 2024. The rise is notable, at about 60%. An explanation for the rise, however, isn’t clear.
Cortez Municipal Court Judge Beth Padilla described “pretty substantial increases across the board” during a Cortez City Council meeting July 22.
“I think the staff at the Municipal Court would say, ‘We’re aware of that,’” she said.
“We’ve gotten quite busy, but we’re certainly able to handle all of the cases that are coming in,” Padilla told council members during her quarterly update.
The number of cases filed in the Municipal Court, which deals with misdemeanors inside city limits, are up at a total of 623 compared with 391 during the same time last year, according to counts shared with The Journal by Cortez public information officer Kelly Codner. And although some possible factors justify the uptick, a clear reason behind the rise isn’t available, Codner said.
The increase isn’t the same for all types of misdemeanors, however.
Of the five categories of misdemeanors shared by the city, two stayed roughly the same: Animal cases went from four to six, while traffic cases went from 171 to 167.
A small uptick in land-use code violations was noted; from two last year to eight this year.
The bulk of the increase, really, came from two main areas of misdemeanors.
First of those are parking violations, up from 36 to 126.
Then there’s criminal misdemeanors, notably taking on half the numbers behind the total increase, up from 178 to 316.
In a breakdown of six individual types of criminal misdemeanor charges, each one increased somewhat significantly from last year.
Trespassing shot up from 100 to 130; open container cases increased 25 to 55; disturbing the peace ramped up from 11 to 30; indecent exposure tripled from 3 to 9; shoplifting rose slightly from 25 to 30; and theft went up from 6 to 14.
But that doesn’t mean more crime, necessarily.
“The Cortez Police Department recognizes that fluctuations in crime statistics do not necessarily reflect a true increase or decrease in overall criminal activity,” Codner wrote in an email to The Journal.
And it doesn’t necessarily mean more policing, either.
The number of police reports have gone up less than 1%, while suspects charged have gone up by 6%, Codner said.
Part of the rise could be explained by repeat offenders. Multiple misdemeanors might also be attributed to one person, Codner said.
Codner offered multiple possible influences driving the overall increase in municipal court cases: “seasonal patterns, enhanced community engagement and reporting, repeat offenses, proactive policing efforts, and natural crime variation over time.”
Security cameras and active community policing could be another factor, Codner said.
But Codner did not point to one overarching factor that could be driving the rise.
