I'll be working at Peterson AFB.  I'm not looking to buy; just rent for a year, maybe two.  Are there any neighborhoods/areas I should be wary of as far as crime and general shittiness?

It seems like north of base up Hwy 21/Powers is the safe/middle class-ish route but any recommendations on older, cool neighborhoods to the west of Peterson? It will just me my wife and myself.

As a general rule stay away from anything south of downtown/Platte over to Powers. Tight to the Platte corridor over to Powers is sketchy too. Anything east of Powers is decent.

South of Platte, east of Circle as a general thing.  There are decent neighborhoods all over, and bad neighborhoods too.  The Springs is a big town.

That is the initial general impression I am getting.  I don't mind older, established neighborhoods with a little flavor vs. the cookie cutter middle class areas heading north.  My wife is heading down there in about 2 weeks to scout some places.  I am in Afghanistan and changing jobs with the same company.  Unfortunately, I get back to Idaho at the beginning of March and have 2 days to pack my shit and drive down to the Springs, so our recon time is pretty short.

My main concern is burglary/theft mitigation since I will be bringing a few things with me.

All of it.
If it were me I would be looking to Black Forest etc before I would go anyplace in the Springs.

I'd probably be looking in the NE Springs or even Falcon in your position.  I lived on Powers/Dublin for ~4 years and liked that area well enough.  Combination of older (~90's) and brand new homes all over up there.  I miss my old house just for the mature trees I had there.  It's getting busier and busier though and development is non-stop.

I live south of Woodmen and east of Powers. Powers is a traffic clusterfuck, but since you’re coming from the south and east you’re probably gtg on the east side of Powers.

From a safety and security perspective, the town is a patchwork quilt.

I rented an apartment by the Chapel Hills Mall and I was averaging a 911 call and 3 non emergency calls for law enforcement a quarter, everything from property crimes, to people shooting, and even a bonafide street fight. This is on the northern side of town that is considered “safe”...

I moved a couple miles south of there into a neighborhood back in May and I have made one call to the police. There is a drug house on a nearby street, and someone on my street has domestic problems, otherwise it is pretty low key.

When I was looking to buy a house last year I noticed the same thing, you’d have serious sketch and then a couple blocks over things would be pretty decent.

One thing is theft from vehicle is huge in every neighborhood. Do not leave anything valuable in a vehicle outside, especially if it is unlocked. I’d say every car door outside in my hood is checked at least nightly, and the shitbirds are getting more sophisticated, eg the guy on foot has a flashlight to see into tinted windows, and his homie driving the car often has a high powered flashlight he uses to try to wash out and blind a surveillance camera. They generally won’t break windows but if they see something valuable all bets are off.

So park in a garage if possible.

If you need some independent scouting email me, I’m unemployed for another week or so right now.

I used the Lexis/Nexis crime map and looked at reviews of apartments and it showed the same thing - pockets of crime everywhere, even in the nicer parts of town.

We were planning on renting a house right away, but the logistics of me being overseas and the short turn-around when I get back to Idaho to when I have to be at work, coupled with indifferent listing agents (or just no return calls) led us to go the route of an apartment initially.  We can then look at a house rental after we get there and are settled a  bit.

The place we got has a garage as well.

Now to figure out where to shoot...

Idaho transplant here as well.

Falcon/Peyton/Black Forest is where you want to look.

East of Peterson and North of North Carefree is a pretty good area, but not perfect.  Also just about anywhere north of Stetson Hills and East of Powers. We've been in the same place for 10 years now, and we still like our neighborhood, although traffic is getting steadily worse. I can make it from my house to the Peterson gym in 15 minutes in most cases, but morning traffic can be heavier on Marksheffel.

There are also some fairly quiet neighborhoods between Academy and Powers (north of constitution), and some other areas as well. (like almost all the areas N of Woodmen)

I’m in one of those areas, >10 years with no issues.   Occasionally I travel for work, and there are few parts of the country where traffic is not an ever-increasing hassle.  Compared to say Denver, we are still doing very well.

Plan on shooting at the public range at Ft Carson at first while you learn more about the area.  Dragonmans is another pay to play range.  There are several indoor ranges and outdoor ranges with membership, and lots of national forest areas with their own issues.  The public range at Carson is the best option for someone just getting here.

@doggettknives

Do you have access to GAL? If so, PM me your GAL address and I'll send the crime reports for COS. EPSO, CSPD and my installation build maps and stratify the crimes (looks like a weather map, along with numbers being reported).

@SecurityForcesmember

Done...much appreciated.

@Doggettknives

Anytime!

It’s in your GAL. I’ve been here since July 2019, if you have questions feel free to reach out.

Also, did you re-up my Membership?

Got it.

LOL - that wasn't me, but someone likes you.

Good luck on settling in when ya get back, be safe out there in the meantime.

Lol! Apparently! Wish I knew who to thank.

@securityforcesmember What base are you at?

If you like to go out and have fun, get an apartment downtown that's walkable to the bars.  If you're a worker bee/family man, then go where that crime map tells you.

@slaytera666

Schriever. You?

How is Costco on Nevada?  I go there once a month for groceries.

It's fine.

We bought a house in Falcon on the golf .course when I was stationed there. Loved it. And commuting to base via 24 and not Powers or wherever was nice. Downside is going anywhere to eat or shop in the Springs was a solid 20 minutes. Family friendly. If it was just myself and wife then likely we would’ve went closer to downtown.