Denver struggled to respond to rising crime in the last few years, but the mayor and chief of police on Tuesday pointed to lower levels of car theft and property crimes in 2023, adding relief is on the way with a full police academy class. 

During a press conference, Mayor Michael Hancock said city leaders remain unsatisfied with Denver’s public safety landscape, but he highlighted a slew of programs and initiatives that, he said, have begun to improve Denver’s crime situation.

Hancock noted that property crimes throughout the city have gone down, while auto thefts have declined by 27% year-to-date compared to 2022.

Police Chief Ron Thomas said this amounts to about 1,300 fewer car thefts. Thomas added that the city is seeing a double digit decrease in property and violent crimes in the central business district.

Flanked by U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann and other city officials, the mayor attributed the improvements to the city’s Public Safety Action Plan, which Denver unveiled last year in response to a surge in violent crimes.   

“We’ve seen some welcome improvements across the city, especially downtown,” Hancock said. “Some categories of crime have decreased, and we remain focused on making sure these downward trends continue moving in the right direction. This includes hiring more officers and expanding our behavioral health outreach. We’re also addressing challenges as they arise with our downtown partners.”

Denver’s crime rate — car theft, in particular — is among the worst in the country. Curbing car theft, specifically, and crime, generally, has consistently been among the top issues for city residents. Denver’s candidates for mayors, for example, have vowed to tackle the issue head on, although some experts say whoever sits as the next mayor will likely take advantage of existing anti-crime initiatives, rather than start completely anew.

Some have directly blamed state officials for Denver’s crime woes, arguing policies out of the state Capitol have hampered crime efforts by being too “criminal-friendly.” The policies’ backers counter that a tough-on-crime approach hasn’t worked.     

At Tuesday press conference, officials announced enhancements to existing programs. They also noted that a law enforcement response to crime is not the only tool the city has deployed.

The Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) and Wellness Winnie programs are set to receive more resources, as the city seeks to build on the programs’ momentum, Hancock said.

For example, the city’s aid, intake and diversion (AID) center, which has been open for almost six months, has provided an alternative to the criminal justice system for almost 300 people, according to Hancock. 

The AID Center allowed Director of Public Safety Armando Saldate III to combine a public health and public safety response to crime, the mayor said, adding that this multi-agency, multi-pronged approach is Denver’s solution to its public safety crisis. 

“We really wanted to make it a hub for service delivery for folks experiencing homelessness and for folks who are in crisis and try to bring services to people at one central location,” he said. “At the AID center, we’re hopefully connecting them to the right resources, removing some of those barriers that brought them to (us in the first place).”

Many in the city view public safety through the lens of public health.

To this end, Denver Department of Public Health and Environment’s Executive Director Bob McDonald announced the city is expanding its Wellness Winnie program. The program, which began in February of 2020, was one of several other wellness vans operating in the city, according to previously published reports. 

The single van the department operates will now be supplemented by three smaller vans, which McDonald said will be known as “Mini-Winnies.” One of these three vans will be dedicated to helping Denver’s youth address “stressors” and other challenges. 

“Our Wellness Winnie program is a proactive response where we utilize clinicians and peers to go out into the community where resources are more difficult to access, meeting people where they are emotionally and physically,” McDonald said. “Our larger van connected over 3,000 people with the services that they needed.”

Officials acknowledged that public health improvements need to be complemented with a robust Denver Police Department.

Recently, the department added 36 new academy graduates to its ranks, and will welcome 50 in the next class. This is the most well staffed DPD has been since before the COVID-19 Pandemic Thomas said. 

Indeed, the city’s public safety initiatives include shoring up the Denver Police Department’s ranks. Officials said the agency is set to have a full police academy class for the first time in years. 

“As with respect to reducing response times, we are utilizing a number of alternative response mechanisms and have seen a measurable decrease in our response time to both emergency and non emergency calls,” Thomas said.

But 911 call centers and dispatch centers are still experiencing staffing shortages, according to Saldate.

Staffing levels are, however, improving, with one city official saying they’ve “turned a corner,” highlighting a “mega-class” of emergency responders who should be fully trained by fall. The call-takers are civilians and not a part of the police department. 

McCann and Finegan talked about multiple interagency partnerships that have helped focus on prosecuting gun crimes. Finegan highlighted the recent prosecution of a gang member, who was prohibited from purchasing guns, and was given a 10-year sentence for buying more than 60 firearms and giving them to other gang members. 

McCann focused on city efforts to address youth violence, which is plaguing metro Denver and the rest of the state. Indeed, while arrests for juveniles statewide for nonviolent offenses plunged over the past decade, violent crime arrests rose to a new 14-year high during the third quarter of 2021, when roughly 15 juveniles in 100,000 Coloradans were arrested for crimes of violence.

And though that spike subsided and reversed last year, the rate of juvenile arrests for crimes of violence statewide remained higher than a decade ago

Thomas and Hancock both agreed putting school resource officers back into schools will be a net positive for Denver. They said it’s not the only solution, prompting McCann to highlight a new citywide initiative called handgun intervention program or HIP. 

“We started the HIP program in conjunction with our partners in juvenile court to focus on kids who are picked up with guns but haven’t used them yet,” she said. “Through this program, we provide young people with mentors, training and support. While HIP is new, the early results are encouraging.”