Loveland-crime and # of sex offenders (Fort Collins, Windsor: real estate, low crime, house prices)

[adamandbrooke]

I am looking to move around Ft. Collins and looking at Loveland, Windsor, and Wellington. I was rather shocked by the number of registered sex offenders listed on the site. I have lived in cities where it was over 3000 to 1 in a smaller city and Loveland is 602 to 1. I was also confused by how everyone was saying it's safe despite this statistic. Does this statistic not seem to contribute to crime and therefore Loveland actually does have a relatively low crime rate or was city-data site inaccurate? I am moving my family and children and want to know the "real scoop" from locals as far as they hear and see the community. I love everything else I have learned about Loveland and can't wait until we take our scouting trip.
Thank you for your help.

[ditto]

I wouldn't worry about it... sex offenders and "potential" sex offenders live everywhere. Think about all of the sex crimes that go unreported. Lots of perverts live in Colorado from what I can tell, but probably not much different from many other locations.

[Mike78613]

Keep an eye out for your kids at all times where ever you are. Does not matter. Sicko's are all over.

[Tom Emmerling]

I am also in the law enforcement world in Larimer County. Our crime rate is pretty low. There are many sex crimes that do go unreported, and some cities just list their "violent" sex offenders. Larimer county lists all of them. If you want to see the exact number of sex offenders go to larimer.org and go to the sheriff under county offices. This will show you a map of exactly where these perverts are living.

[golfgod]

I'm not sure about just how and what crimes are reported as sex offenders. A young man of 16 having consensual sex with his 16 year old girl friend is a sex offender in some states. Someone unable to find a restroom and peeing on the side of the road might be another. Not much to worry about in either case in my opinion.

[dleal]

I live right down the street from a "sex Offender". It is hard to know if we should worry as sex offenders vary in who they target and the sight does not list if the offender went after teens little boys, little girls. It is very misleading. I have lived in other places where they let you know what is the offenders target victim. It would be good info to have. If the offender committed statutory rape, then my small children are not at risk.

[BigCheeze]

Unfortunately a lot of things qualify as a "sex crime" many of which aren't. Find an area, and then look up what these sex crimes are. Like mentioned, they could be things like public nudity, urinating in public, "statutory" rape (i.e. someone that is 18 having sex with his 16 yr old willing girlfriend), rape, child molestation. All of which are NOT equal, and most don't actually pose any risk towards you or your children.

[sandias]

Thank you Tom for your post! I was looking at real estate in Ft. Collins and found a real nice home. I checked city-data sex offenders and they reported 1 offender that was the next street over. When I checked the site you recommended there are actually 5 within that small subdivision and 1 that lives a couple houses down who was found guilty of sex assault on a child. Oh yeah and 3 of the other 4 were also found guilty of sex assault on a child.

To Adamandbrooke, I have been looking at real estate all over Colorado as well as in other states and the sex offender rate in Loveland and Fort Collins is exceptionally high. I actually lived in both Loveland and Fort Collins from 1999-2002 (before I had kids) and have been thinking of moving back, but now I am not so sure. I think it is good that the public has this kind of information, yet at the same time it seems sick that we should even have to be concerned about this. It also appears to be driving real estate values down in the neighborhoods where they are concentrating. Oh yeah, I just remembered the house next to the one I used to live in in Loveland back then went up for auction while I was living there because the owner got put in prison for child molestation. I could tell you some other stories about crime in Loveland and Ft Collins if you really want to know. Every time something happened near me though I thought it was an anomaly, now I am not so sure. I think it is an awesome area and (most) of the people are very friendly, but they sure don't seem to be on top of the crime there. Also, if you go the site Tom posted it shows that there aren't any sex offenders in down town Loveland on the numbered streets between 1st St and Eisenhower, yet the city-data link shows a very high concentration of them there, which would not surprise me because the house prices are also very cheap there. Just FYI.

[lovelandvictims]

We have lived in Loveland 20+ years. Unfortunately our children were the victims of sex abuse. This kid was required to register, but, we have yet to find where he is registered on many sites we've researched. Larimer Co tells us that since he was a minor at the time of being charged/sentenced, he isn't required to have his picture/name posted on the Larimer Co website. This has been since 2001. He lives < 2 mi from us & regularly drives past our home, although, we have a restraining order, we were told "It's a public street". We just received notice that he wishes to have the requirement of reg sex offender removed, so he may be free to roam and do whatever he pleases. Can you believe this is right here in Loveland? This is our legal system at its finest! No place are you safe!