PUEBLO — A few neighbors on the East side of Pueblo said they now feel safer at home.
News5 first introduced you to Bryan Steepleton and Bryan Bailey back in August. They said crime was out of control on the East Side of the city.
Advocates of Accountability
Neighbors on the east side of Pueblo say crime is out of control
Bailey said he felt so unsafe that he and his wife considered moving out of Pueblo.
Following up on that story, we checked in with Steepleton and Bailey to see how things have been going over the last couple of months.
“Things have definitely improved,” Bailey said.
Stillness and silence along 12th Street are signs of change for the two neighbors.
“It's been pretty quiet around here,” Steepleton said.
Another change, what has left. All summer long, a camper van was parked in Bailey's neighbors drive-way. He said it was the source of a lot of trouble.
“Drug use, drug dealing and the crimes that go along with that,” Bailey said.
So, Bailey said his wife began advocating for something to be done to make their neighborhood safer. They demanded action from the police and city council.
“There have been thefts in their neighborhood, we are literally just asking for patrols,” Bailey said.
Steepleton said one city councilman answered the call.
“We had a lot of help from Joe Latino on the city council. Me and him have sat down and talked several times, and he sat down with code enforcement and the police,” Steepleton said.
He said police have been in the area.
“They showed up like six or eight squad cars, and they drove this whole perimeter of about six blocks,” Steepleton said.
News5 asked Pueblo Police if they have done narcotics investigations in this area. A spokesperson for the department said they have made an arrest and that person has been in custody since August. In an email they wrote the following:
“Looking at calls for service, a great deal of activity may have been connected to him.”
They said in addition to our regular patrol, the Pueblo Police Department has several specialized teams, including the IMPACT Team who focus on gangs, guns, and drugs targeted enforcement.
Then, in September, Bailey said their neighbor's house was sold.
“Since they moved out, yeah it's definitely been a lot better,” Steepleton said.
The camper van is gone and has now been replaced by a big blue dumpster as the home is being renovated.
Do you feel safer?
“Yes... it's a lot easier to leave the house and not have to not constantly checking the cameras. Be like, Okay, what's going on? Is there something happening?”
They used to have to park their cars in the backyard, but they now feel safe enough to leave them parked out front.
“So it has gotten better,” Bailey said.
Would improvement be the right word?
“Improvement? Yeah, it has definitely improved. I think there's still more work to be done, but I also feel like this is on a community level, and I don't know that's the next step that we're going to go try to figure out is, what do we do as a community... to improve, and what do we do as far as not just here on 12th Street, but what do we do all over Pueblo,” Bailey said.
The neighbors said they would still like to see more police patrols on their street. Their hope is for the entire East side community to feel safer and become crime free.
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