While most Denver crime numbers are down this year compared to last, homicides are up nearly 37%, according to newly released data from the Denver Police Department.

The data, released Wednesday, shows that between Jan. 1 and July 1, overall crime is down by about half a percentage point, continuing a downward trend over the past three years. The three-year average crime rate is down nearly 8%, according to the data.

Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said in the release that DPD is pleased with the decrease in overall crime but concerned about the uptick in homicides and violence.

“We remain concerned with individuals’ propensity toward violence and the uptick in homicides committed this year,” Thomas said. “Any violence is unacceptable, and homicides not only devastate the families of those who were killed, but the families of the suspects and the entire community.”

“Preventing and decreasing crime are our top priorities, and we look forward to new and continuing partnerships with our residents to help achieve these goals,” Thomas said in the release.

In an interview with The Denver Gazette Friday, Thomas said while DPD is pleased with the decrease in overall crime, the department is not satisfied and remains concerned about the uptick in homicides.

Thomas also said while crime may be down, perception about crime may not match the numbers, something he said the department will seek to address in order to make residents feel safer.

For the second half of the year, Thomas said DPD will look to continue to lean on community partners to keep crime down, which will include connecting with partners in areas seeing particularly high levels of violence to continue to address homicides.

“We still see a reduction in violent crime,” Thomas said. “Shootings are down. I just think that we’re seeing, unfortunately, a higher lethality rate with our shootings.”

Included in the crime statistics in addition to homicides are nonfatal shootings, property crime, violent crime, robbery, auto theft, burglary and violent gun crime. The crime that saw the biggest decrease from last year to this year is auto theft, which is down nearly 27% in Denver.

So far in 2026, roughly 2,700 violent crimes have been reported and 14,000 property crimes have been reported. During the same time period last year, nearly 3,000 violent crimes were reported and 15,000 property crimes were reported.

While sexual assaults remained about the same, at 389 in 2025 and 383 in 2026, robberies decreased from 514 to 451 and aggravated assaults were down from 2,069 to 1,877.

Burglaries were down from 2,133 to 1,904, while auto thefts went down from 3,095 to 2,280. Nonfatal shootings dropped from 76 to 70.

While homicides are up, police said 23 of the 26 homicides committed during the first half the year have been solved, leading to an 88% clearance rate.

Last year, 19 homicides were reported in Denver during the first half of the year. Denver finished the year with 37, which constituted a 41% drop from 2024 and made Denver have the largest drop of any major U.S. city. Seventy homicides were reported in 2024.

Denver last year similarly saw decreases in many types of crimes, including carjackings, shoplifting and aggravated assaults, while drug crimes saw a small increase and sexual assaults stayed at about the same rate, according to a report from the Council on Criminal Justice.

Denver was previously atop the list of states with the highest car theft rates but has seen significant drops in recent years.

Over 18,000 thefts were reported between January and May of 2022; in that same time frame last year, only 4,800 thefts were reported, a 36% decrease from 2025 and a 74% overall decrease from 2022.