Denver mayor receives pushback about violent crime, which was up in 2024

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston recently made headlines after a bystander called out violent crime in the city.

“This is your fault,” the man yelled at Johnston during a news conference earlier this week. “Crime-loving Democrats are burning this city down.”

While the city government is applauding a downward trend in some violent crimes, overall crime in the city is still significantly up over the past decade.

“We know that there is work to do, but we also know that downtown Denver is getting more vibrant and more safe every day,” Johnston said. He added that there is a “difference between perception and reality” for citizens in Denver and their concerns with crime.

Yet, for many residents of Denver, they feel their concerns are significant. Do Better Denver is a public social media account documenting crime in Denver with nearly 17,000 followers. It has called out the mayor and city government for nitpicking numbers to “paint a rosy picture” of crime in the city.

This is an issue for much of crime-related data, where there are many different factors involved, including what locations and crimes are used in the data, as well as other reporting methods that could impact the total numbers reported.

According to data from the Denver Police Department, overall violent crime throughout the city in 2024 was up slightly from 2023.

While almost all crimes saw a significant spike in 2022 and some 2024 numbers are down from that spike, many continue to be higher than in years prior to 2022. Property crime is the outlier to this, with 2024 numbers being slightly lower than even 2020’s number.

Murder, a subcategory within violent crimes, has also seen a significant decrease in the last few years, dropping from its peak in 2021 of 92 to 64 in 2024.

On the other hand, crimes labeled “other crimes” have especially seen an increase in the past few years.

According to the data, those crimes have seen a 30% increase from 2020 to 2024 and include everything from “drug-alcohol” crimes to “all other crimes.”

CrimeGrade.org looks at crime rates throughout the nation and has given Denver a rare “F” rating, which means that “the rate of crime is much higher than the average U.S. city.”

It also reported that it places Denver in the “1st percentile for safety, meaning 99% of cities are safer and 1% of cities are more dangerous.” Cities it considers safer than Denver include Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles.

Yet, going into 2025, decreasing crime will be a priority for the city, as it was in 2024.

Johnston has applauded the city’s efforts to meet these goals in 2024, saying the city achieved “remarkable success.”

Lowering violent gun crime citywide was one of the city’s specific goals. Last year, the goal was to lower it by 20%. The city met this goal, lowering the total number of persons shot by 23%, according to the 2024 Annual Citywide Goals Report.