Cheyenne Mayor: Alcohol Offenses, Crime At Parking Garage Down

Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr says alcohol offenses and crime in general at the Jack R. Spiker Parking Facility in Cheyenne are down significantly compared to last year.

The mayor says that garage recorded 51 reported alcohol offenses in the garage in 2016, but that number has dipped to only 17 so far this year. Mayor Orr says increased police patrols, better lighting, more signs and efforts to keep the restrooms safe have all contributed to the decrease in alcohol offenses.

While Cheyenne Police said last year that the number of crimes in the garage in 2016 was much lower than what people believed, the mayor says the steps have reduced that crime rate even further.

Various surveys, as well as interviews conducted by Cheyenne Police in 2016, found that a lot of people were concerned about using the facility because of a perception that it was unsafe because of crime and high numbers of transients.

The mayor says the next step now is to use technology to be able to do things such as read license plates to find out if people are overstaying their allotted time in the garage or find out who was in the facility if a crime is committed.

She says the city is going to put out a request for proposals from companies who offer products that may help achieve those goals. She says technology which is used in city parking structures might eventually be used in downtown parking areas as well.