Police say felony menacing reports on the rise in Commerce City
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (KDVR) — A threatening crime appears to be on the rise in Commerce City — officers are concerned about the spike in felony menacing calls.
In early March, Commerce City Police Department officers responded to three felony menacing calls in just one day.
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“It’s very serious,” said Joanna Small, the public information officer for the department. “We’ve been getting a high number of what you call felony menacing calls,”
So what qualifies as felony menacing?
“We’re talking about a deadly weapon and people being concerned that weapon will be used to cause them serious bodily harm or death,” said Small. “That doesn’t have to be with a gun, it could be with a knife or anything that can be considered a deadly weapon. So even wielding a baseball bat in a way that makes the other person feel threatened for their life, that would be considered a felony menacing.”
From January through the first week of March 2023, officers responded to 20 felony menacing calls. So far this year during that same period, officers responded to at least 30.
“That’s fairly significant. A lot of those in both incidents year after year are road rage incidents,” said Small.
That was the case for at least two suspects back on March 8.
“We had a victim who was able to get a good vehicle description, get an accurate license plate,” Small explained. “Fortunately, that vehicle wasn’t stolen so we were able to locate the owner at their residence and they turned over the gun. That doesn’t always happen.”
“These aren’t unsolvable crimes but a lot of them is reliance on the victim giving some really good information,” said Small.
Small goes on to say if you witness a road rage incident where another person brandishes a gun or weapon of some sort, always call 911 as a witness. You don’t necessarily have to be the victim of the crime.
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“We respond to every single one of those calls and work them to the best of our ability,” said Small. “I mean there are some cameras and sometimes we can get some surveillance of this type of stuff if it happens near a business or a parking lot.”
Anyone caught and convicted of committing felony menacing can face one to three years in prison or a fine ranging from $1,000-$100,000.
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