The 22nd Judicial District's performance report for 2024, presented to the Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners on Monday, attributed a significant rise in domestic violence cases to improved reporting and recognition by law enforcement officers.
The district saw 239 cases in 2024, up from 197 in 2023, marking a 130% increase over the five-year average.
“This is just sort of how we did in 2024,” said Office Manager Clarisa Osborn.
Osborn noted that while the increase might not indicate more incidents, the findings underscore the district's ongoing efforts to address and manage domestic violence more effectively.
The DA’s Office presented a table to illustrate different crimes – everything from traffic offense cases to different classes of misdemeanors to DUIs – over a five-year window.
There were a few areas where crime rose above 100% of its five-year average for the district, and the "most concerning“ rise was in domestic violence.
| Crimes | 5-year average | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
| Juvenile | 108% | 82 | 89 | 72 | 83 | 58 | 77 |
| Felony | 77% | 291 | 271 | 342 | 441 | 393 | 444 |
| Traffic* | 83% | 556 | 510 | 579 | 788 | 709 | 769 |
| Misdemeanor** | 112% | 738 | 663 | 635 | 708 | 642 | 661 |
| DUI | 99% | 206 | 231 | 217 | 241 | 174 | 180 |
| Domestic violence | 130% | 239 | 197 | 168 | 198 | 192 | 167 |
| Crime against child | 113% | 62 | 35 | 55 | 68 | 53 | 64 |
| Felony drug | 47% | 21 | 21 | 43 | 32 | 52 | 76 |
| The 22nd Judicial District detailed crime reports over a five-year period. *Traffic cases involved Class 1 or 2 offense. **Misdemeanors included Class 1, 2, 3 or unclassified cases. | |||||||
“Obviously, our most concerning area is domestic violence,” Osborn said. “I don’t know that it’s necessarily happening more, but it is getting reported more.”
Law enforcement officers also are getting better at recognizing it, said District Attorney Jeremy Reed.
“I think that’s a sign that we’re actually doing better with domestic violence, not that we’re having more domestic violence,” said Reed.
The district saw the biggest drop was in felony drug charges.
There were 21 of such cases in 2024, which is the exact same number they reported in 2023. That’s fewer than half the 43 felony drug charges it saw in 2022.
Osborn attributed the “huge decrease in felony drug charges” to changes in the law and state statutes, Osborn said.
“A tremendous number of drug felonies became misdemeanors,” Reed said. “That’s largely responsible for the drop.”
Obsorn said the district is getting “close to what we were averaging pre-COVID, our normal operations of things.”
