July 21, 2025 12:40 PM UTC

Colorado is (Still) Not as Scary as Republicans Claim

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• by: Colorado Pols

Colorado Republicans have long claimed that our state is a playground for criminals, a narrative driven by outrageous claims that Denver is a crime-ridden hellhole. Facts have not generally supported this hysteria, and Colorado voters have tended to ignore the “sky is falling” tales from Republicans.

Back in 2014, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez tried to use what we have affectionally called the “Crimenado” narrative in his campaign against incumbent Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper. It failed.

Republicans attempted to resurrect the “Crimenado” in 2022 with messaging centered around the thefts of catalytic converters. Republicans went on to lose every statewide race by double-digit margins, and they ended the cycle stuck in an historically-bleak micro-minority status in the state legislature. One year later, we learned that auto theft increases were primarily driven (pun intended) by the fact that two particular vehicle brands — Hyundai and Kia —  were unusually-easy to steal. This was more of a Hyundai/Kia problem than a Colorado law enforcement problem.

Nevertheless, Republicans have persisted in their “Crimenado” efforts, buoyed by some odd reporting from a national “magazine.” Congressman Gabe Evans (R-Ft. Lupton) loves to say — usually after mentioning that he is a former police officer — that Colorado is the second most dangerous state in the country. But is it?

Evans and other Republicans are usually referring to data from U.S. News and World Report, which ranked Colorado as the #3 most dangerous state in the country in 2024. This year we actually rose a spot to finish at #2. Colorado is ranked high on the list for both years because U.S. News and World Report inexplicably mashes together rates for both “Violent Crime” and “Property Crime.” Colorado’s “Violent Crime” rate is pretty average, but our “Property Crime” rate is higher than many states. We suppose your definition of “dangerous” depends on whether you consider “property crimes” to carry equal weight as “violent crimes.”

In 2024, then-Presidential candidate Donald Trump often said that crime was “out of control” in the United States. This was unsurprisingly inaccurate; incidents of murder and violent crime had been dropping across the country at rates not seen for decades.

And as Axios Denver reports, the homicide rate in Denver has now reached its lowest level in more than a decade:

As of July 13, Denver’s homicide rate was 2.7 per 100,000 people — the city’s second-lowest midyear figure since 2004, per Denver Police Department data analyzed by Axios.

If the homicide rate in Colorado’s largest city is so low — down 58%, in fact — then why do Republicans keep claiming everyone in Denver is basically dead?

One of the hardest things to change is public perception. Despite the drop in violent crime, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas says fear remains high.

“We are working with the mayor’s office to get to the root of those things that impact people’s perceptions,” Thomas says. That includes reducing open drug use, unsheltered homelessness and retail theft.

Homicide rates are even down 36% in Aurora, nevermind Republican claims that Venezuelan gangs have murdered the entire city.

Perhaps Republicans are keen to point out crime in Colorado because the real numbers don’t reflect well on their own leaders. As Axios Denver reported in May:

Violent crime, especially homicides, spiked during the final year of Trump’s first term and Joe Biden’s first two years as president. Since then, rates have dropped dramatically, an Axios review of MCCA data shows.

Declining rates of violent crime should be something to celebrate. But Republicans need a bogeyman in Colorado, and acknowledging the good work of law enforcement officials in our state would not benefit those efforts.