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<br /> 2 <br />dispensaries, equal to that of pharmacies. That’s lower than the 19.7 percent rate for <br />liquor stores and the 33.7 percent rate for banks, the analysis found.3 <br />2010 Denver Police Department analysis – In late 2010, the Denver Police Department <br />looked at crime rates in areas in and around dispensaries. The analysis showed that <br />through the first nine months of 2010, crime was down 8.2% relative to the same period <br />in 2009. The decrease was comparable to the city’s overall drop in crime of 8.8%.4 The <br />Denver Post completed a similar analysis and found that crime rates in some areas with <br />the highest concentration of dispensaries saw bigger decreases in crime than <br />neighborhoods with no dispensaries.5 <br /> <br />2010 Colorado Springs Police Department analysis – An analysis by the Colorado <br />Springs Police Department found that robbery and burglary rates at area dispensaries <br />were on par with those of other businesses. Specifically, the department’s data indicated <br />that there were 41 criminal incidents reported at the city’s 175 medical marijuana <br />businesses in the 18-month period ending August 31, 2010. Meanwhile, over that same <br />period, there were 797 robberies and 4,825 burglaries at other city businesses. These <br />findings led the department’s spokesman, Sgt. Darrin Abbink, to comment, “I don’t think <br />the data really supports [dispensaries] are more likely to be targeted at this point.”6 <br /> <br />UCLA study, “Exploring the Ecological Link Between Crime and Medical <br />Marijuana Dispensaries,” October 2011 – In what is likely the most comprehensive <br />analysis of the relationship, or lack thereof, between dispensaries and crime, researchers <br />from UCLA, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, used data from 95 census <br />tracts in Sacramento to analyze two types of crime (violent and property) in areas with <br />varying concentrations of dispensaries. What they found is that while factors traditionally <br />understood to lead to increased crime — for example, large percentages of land zoned for <br />commercial rather than residential use, a high percentage of one-person households, the <br />presence of highway ramps, and a higher percentage of the population being ages 15-24 <br />— were positively associated with crime in those areas, “the density of medical <br />marijuana dispensaries was not associated with violent or property crime rates.” In their <br />conclusion, the researches said, “[t]hese results suggest that the density of [medical <br />marijuana dispensaries] may not be associated with increased crime rates or that <br />measures dispensaries take to reduce crime (i.e., doormen, video cameras) may increase <br />guardianship, such that it deters possible motivated offenders.”7 <br /> <br />Specifically, the study applied the “routine activity theory” of crime, which suggests that <br />crime is more likely when three criteria are met: (1) a motivated offender, (2) a suitable <br />target, as defined by factors like value, visibility, and access, and (3) a lack of <br />guardianship such as low residency or poor security. The authors hypothesized that the <br /> <br />3 “Analysis: Denver pot shops’ robbery rate lower than banks,” The Denver Post, January 27, 2010. <br />http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14275637. <br />4 See note 1, supra. <br />5 Id. <br />6 “Marijuana shops not magnets for crime, police say,” Fort Collins Gazette, September 14, 2010. <br />http://www.gazette.com/articles/wall-104598-marijuana-brassfield.html. <br />7 http://www.uclamedicalmarijuanaresearch.com/node/10.