Last time I checked, there were criminals in every neighborhood of every state in the US.
Aurora and Denver have higher populations of people than BF Oklahoma, or where ever most of you seem to reside.
Because there are more people here, there are more criminals.
Because there are more people, you need more teachers, schools, nurses, doctors, hospitals, firefighters, cops, etc.
All of that costs money to pay those people to do those jobs.
And police departments sometimes allow themselves to be over run with people who view the local citizens as nothing more than targets.
The Aurora PD has had that mentality since the 90's when I first moved from NYC to the Denver area.
It has never improved.
Why a police officer costs $114k per year (using that aurora pd link provided a few posts ago) is an issue when you compare to how little a teacher is paid, and you wonder why you have a bunch of under-educated morons running around stealing things, and breaking into peoples pickup trucks.
As of June 2024, the average starting salary for a teacher in Aurora, Colorado is $59,199 per year, or about $28.46 per hour. The majority of entry-level teachers in Aurora make between $47,200 and $61,000 annually.
Do you want to go into the education requirement differences between a teacher and a police officer?
I don't, but one group is required to go through college training, and the other group is preferred when they don't.
I grew up in NYC in the 80's and 90's.
The crime you have here in Colorado is NOTHING in comparison to the things I grew up with.
The education system is appalling in comparison to NYC's, but the massive number of people who absolutely seethe at having to pay taxes for anything that doesn't directly go into their pocket out here is depressing.
If you don't want people to grow up as criminals, you have to pay to educate them, and allow them to have the ability to get real jobs that pay actual living wages. But, a whole bunch of you are getting ready to jump down my throat.
Knock yourselves out.