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Tusayan a safe community despite small bump in crime

Chart detailing the citations issued by the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office for the town of Tusayan in 2017. Graphic courtesy of CCSO
Graphic courtesy of CCSO

Chart detailing the citations issued by the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office for the town of Tusayan in 2017. Graphic courtesy of CCSO

TUSAYAN, Ariz. — Despite a few small bumps in crime activity in 2017, Lt. Brian Tozer of the Coconino County Sheriff’s Department still considers Tusayan to be a safe, family-friendly community. Tozer outlined the town’s 2017 crime statistics at the Jan. 10 town council meeting.

Like 2016, the majority of citations issued continue to be license and insurance violations, which remains the same as last year at 32 percent. Traffic or moving violations such as reckless or distracted driving, or operating a vehicle with an open container of alcohol, dropped one percent to 15 percent overall. The amount of drug citations, however, increased by 4 percent, accounting for 22 percent of the citations issued in 2017.

Mayor Craig Sanderson raised concerns over whether the increase in drug citations could be related to the opioid epidemic currently gripping the rest of the country, but Tozer said he hadn’t seen any cases of opioid use in many months. Instead, he attributed more than 90 percent of the citations to marijuana, which he said was cheap and easy to obtain or transport.

“People can legally obtain marijuana with a medical marijuana card,” Tozer said. “That is legal in the state of Arizona. However, some of them share it with friends or hiking companions or sell it once they get here, and that’s where the citations come from.”

Tozer also said the department noticed a slight uptick in methamphetamine use and manufacturing in heavily forested areas.

Citations for alcohol use also increased 4 percent, from 7 to 11 percent in 2017. Tozer said many of the alcohol citations involved visitors who became intoxicated and started an altercation outside a business, or who attempted to drive under the influence.

While visitors account for some of the citations, he said, the majority of alcohol related issues stem from community members, including DUIs, disorderly conduct calls and, more rarely, person crimes such as assault or mutual combat.

Tozer said the department is aware that some people in the community have problems with alcohol, and he is working with employers and business owners to potentially provide help for those individuals.

“You have a lot of good people here,” he said. “We’re aware that some people have a problem. Business owners have been doing a really good job. The purpose of working with employers is not to get people terminated, but just to make them aware. Maybe instead of termination, we can work out a program to help these individuals out.”

Other categories for citations included property crimes and person crimes at 8 percent each, disorderly conduct at 7 percent, DUIs at 5 percent and fire at 4 percent.

The department also responded to incidents where no citations were issued, such as search and rescue calls (4), reports of a suicidal person (4) and motor vehicle accidents (25). Most of the accidents occurred on private property, Tozer said.

Tozer said most of the calls for missing persons or even suicidal persons were cases of individuals simply abandoning or not checking out of their hotel rooms in Tusayan, which generates the reports. Tozer said the individuals were often located inside Grand Canyon National Park alive. If the person is found deceased, the report switches to the park, which classifies it as a recovery.

Tozer said, overall, the community was very safe.

“I know the numbers can look big on the pie chart, but over the period of a year, these numbers aren’t bad,” he said.

Tozer also introduced Deputy Alexandria McArthur, who volunteered to patrol the Tusayan area until a resident deputy is hired to permanently serve the location. McArthur will work with community leaders and business owners to help develop programs community members have expressed interest in, such as neighborhood watch programs. When a permanent deputy is hired, McArthur will continue to serve as a community deputy.

McArthur joined the Sheriff’s department in 2013 and is currently assigned to the Williams substation.

Chief Deputy Bret Axlund was also on hand to discuss the hiring of a permanent deputy to patrol the area, cautiously delivering some good news to the town: the department has a good number of applicants for the position, including a recent hire currently going through the academy.

Axlund said the applicant has expressed interest in being transferred to the area along with his wife. Finding officers who were willing to transfer to the remote location has been an issue in the past, but Axlund said he was confident the new applicant would be a good fit.

“We don’t want to just put a body up here, we want to make sure it’s the right person,” Axlund said. “We want to make sure it’s someone who fits with the community. We’d like to see him up here before the busy season starts.”

Axlund also said that with the number of applicants so far, the department has the potential to assign two resident deputies, provided that there is housing available.


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