We were glad to see new statistics that show Denver experienced a healthy drop in crime last year, and we hope it’s the start of a trend. The report released this week show that crime fell 10 percent from the previous year. While that’s encouraging, the numbers reflect only a one-year change in which property crimes took the steepest dive. Overall, crime in Denver remains higher than it was last decade, and there are indications that gang activity is on the rise.
Violent crimes, such as homicides and sexual assaults, fell 3 percent from the previous year – a significant improvement, given that the nationwide rate rose 3.7 percent.
More important than the raw numbers is that the Denver Police Department has adopted new tactics for confronting crime under its so-called “Command Operations Review and Evaluation program.” In the long run, the department is relying on CORE to contribute to crime-rate reductions that will be sustained over time.
The CORE project requires that commanders meet weekly to review trends and statistics, “identify the areas going well or particularly badly so they can identify the things that are working and those that need more work,” said Jeremy Bronson, special assistant to Mayor John Hickenlooper. Bronson said that if there is a spike in burglaries, police will hone in on where they are occurring, whether business or residential, study the M.O. and examine what’s being stolen. “That kind of thing has had a real impact by catching stuff early and being able to intervene much sooner to keep those patterns from continuing,” Bronson said.
In addition, Denver has obtained grant funds that allow police to put more effort into gathering DNA from crime scenes other than violent crime scenes. Burglaries are usually usually committed repeatedly by the same individuals. Thanks to the DPD’s burglary DNA program, Bronson said that “the police brought in a significant number of high-volume burglars last year.”As officers gathered DNA from burglary scenes, the actual number of burglaries in the city dropped substantially.
The CORE approach also requires police to confront minor crimes, such as public nuisances, in an effort to help people feel safer and to prevent minor incidents from escalating.
The crime report released Tuesday shows that the number of overall incidents remains higher than in the 1990s while the number of arrests is substantially lower. So, there is a long way to go. But the new police programs initiated by Hickenlooper and the police department are showing great promise.
