According to Neighborhood Scout, a comprehensive statistical real estate database,  “with a crime rate of 45 per one thousand residents, Denver has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes – from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One’s chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 22.”

According to Denver crime statistics, the University/University Park neighborhoods have largely escaped violent crime. However, property crime is on the rise in 2020, despite many people being homebound during the pandemic. And Denver has seen an upward trend in overall crime as the city has grown in size with most serious crimes north and west of the DU neighborhood.

The good news, according to City of Denver crime statistics, is violent crime in the DU area has dropped over the first eight months of 2020 versus 2019 from 28 to 23, rape from 5 to 2, domestic violence from 13 to 8, and robberies from 11 to 5.  Burglaries from this period have dropped from 51 to 37. And drug crimes dipped from 51 to 29 over the past nine months.

The story was not so positive when it comes to personal property. Personal property crimes are up 23.8% (358 vs 289) and the situation may be worse as most people never report those crimes to police believing nothing will be done. The situation is even more serious with auto thefts up 95% versus the prior year (78 vs 40). Bicycle thefts have jumped from 21 in 2019 to 44 this year – or a 109% increase. Even with soaring personal property losses, the University/University Park neighborhoods fell into the lower quartile of personal property theft/loss compared to all of Denver’s 78 neighborhoods studied -with the exception of bicycle theft (26th).

The most retail crimes in University/University Park were committed at Safeway (Downing & Evans) and 7-11 (Evans & franklin) with nine each. Most crimes, however, were reported at three neighborhood apartments to include The Atelier Apartments (23), One Observatory Park (16), and University House (15).

Be safe and keep your personal items secure.

Photo courtesy of BikeLockWiki.com