Study Shows Drop In Denver Murder Rate

Colorado’s most populous city doesn’t appear to be a magnet for violence.

While the US Justice Department reports that violent crime has increased for the second year in a row, a new study reveals that Denver one in a handful of cities where violent offenses have actually decreased in the past three years. The report (PDF) from the Police Executive Research Forum, a national organization of police executives, shows that from 2004 to 2006 murder and assaults dropped significantly.

For the time period, homicide decreased by more than 38 percent while aggravated assaults dropped by approximately 13 percent. The only crime to actually increase was robbery, by more than 5 percent.

This comes after the city reported a reduction in serious crimes. The study also shows a drop in violent offenses before the city’s “broken windows” program went into play in 2005.

Erin Rosa was born in Spain and raised in Colorado Springs. She is a freelance writer currently living in Denver. Rosa's work has been featured in a variety of news outlets including the Huffington Post, Democracy Now!, and the Rocky Mountain Chronicle, an alternative-weekly in Northern Colorado where she worked as a columnist covering the state legislature. Rosa has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for her reporting on lobbying and woman's health issues. She was also tapped with a rare honorable mention award by the Newspaper Guild-CWA's David S. Barr Award in 2008--only the second such honor conferred in its nine-year history--for her investigative series covering the federal government's Supermax prison in the state. Rosa covers the labor community, corrections, immigration and government transparency matters. She can be reached at erosa@www.coloradoindependent.com.

Comments are closed.