Overall crime in Denver down slightly in first few months of 2017, but some outliers

DENVER – Crime in Denver dropped slightly in the first three months of 2017, but there was a notable increase in thefts from vehicles and reports of aggravated assaults.

The city of Denver complies dynamic lists of reported crimes that fit both Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) definitions and definitions from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).

Crime based on UCR standards was down by 2.4 percent in Jan.-March 2017 when compared to the same period last year.

Overall, violent crimes increased by 2.7 percent – mostly due to there being two additional murders and an additional 50 aggravated assault reports this year when compared to last year.

But property crimes decreased by 3.3 percent, thanks in part to a 20.6 percent decrease in burglaries. However, the number of thefts from motor vehicles increased by 179 this year.

The data was similar when using the NIBRS standards, which showed overall crime fell by 2.5 percent year-over-year from 2016 to 2017.

From January through March, according to the NIBRS standards, crimes against persons were down by 0.3 percent, but that included an additional 49 aggravated assault reports and 16 more kidnappings or abductions than were seen last year.

Crimes against properties fell by 3 percent, thanks to a 19.5 percent reduction in the number of burglaries. But theft from motor vehicle and stolen property cases jumped by a total of 234 this year.

The city also keeps tabs on how long it is taking officers to respond to various calls for service, and how many of those calls are initiated by citizens or officers.

Those stats show that officers have cut down significantly on the time it takes them to respond to the highest-priority calls over the past four years. In 2013, an average response time for top-priority calls was 15:10. But that has fallen each consecutive year since. In 2015, the average response time was 13:48, but that fell by 56 seconds, to 12:52 in 2016.

But at the same time, lower-priority response times have increased – from 27:12 in 2013 up to 29 minutes last year.

Citizen-initiated calls for service have increased since 2013, from 301,246 in 2013 to 317,038 last year.

But there was a sharp increase in the number of officer-initiated calls last year. In 2013, there were 189,219; that number increased to 217,096 by 2015.

But last year, officer-initiated calls jumped to 282,923 – a 30.3 percent increase from 2015.

So-called Part 1 Crimes, which include homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, auto theft and arson, were up by 1.3 percent last year when compared to 2015.

You can also look up crime in your specific neighborhood by clicking here and scrolling down to the section labeled "Cumulative Data & Maps."