Amid concerns of rising property crime rates in the unincorporated communities south of Maricopa, Pinal County Sheriff Ross Teeple met with residents in the city to answer their questions over stacks of flapjacks last night. 

Teeple attended the Arizona Republican Assembly’s Northwest Pinal County Chapter meeting at IHOP, where organizers had said the sheriff was “going to address the recent wave of crime and theft in the unincorporated areas of Pinal County.” 

Equipped with printed pages of statistics, Teeple told residents that the No. 1 growing crime wave in their communities was something else. 

“Domestic violence has significantly risen and it’s on the rise. A lot of that has to do with the fact that we have gotten smarter about reporting it,” Teeple said. “Statistics don’t lie, but liars always use statistics. Sometimes on purpose, sometimes on accident. 

“In the last six months, there have been 16 domestic violences reported in your area,” Teeple continued, adding that in that same timeframe “there’s been one robbery, one burglary and one stolen vehicle report.” 

One Hidden Valley resident questioned the accuracy of those statistics: “I’ve had three,” she said, “and they’re all different reports.” 

InMaricopa has also reported multiple thefts in unincorporated Maricopa in just the last two months, including a camper that was stolen near State Route 238 and Ralston Road, and hundreds of gallons of gas siphoned from Farmer’s Convenience on Papago Road. (Those thieves were caught last month.) 

Last night, Teeple cited an entirely different stolen vehicle case. We’ll be reporting on that one soon. 

Another possibility for skewed numbers: If multiple thefts at a single address are believed to be tied to the same actors, it becomes an “ongoing case where they’re looking at criminal conspiracy charges,” Teeple said. 

Another Hidden Valley resident pointed at Teeple’s page of stats and asked: “Are those numbers then kind of skewed?” 

“Yes,” Teeple conceded. He noted PCSO in January started a formalized academy for dispatchers to help ensure consistency. New dispatchers were previously trained on the job. 

Teeple didn’t leave Maricopa without drawing applause from the crowd. The moment came when he asked, “Elections have consequences, right?” 

“This is not being political,” he said. “Since November, the number of pursuits related to border incursions in this area went to near zero.” 

Before November, Teeple said the sheriff’s office averaged 37 border incursion traffic stops monthly in the area south of Maricopa. In the last month, there have been two.