Lower Downtown District, Inc.

A Look at Local Crime Statistics

Jan 14, 2000

How Safe is Lower Downtown?
A Look at Local Crime Statistics

On September 7, two homeless men were found beaten to death under a loading dock just north of Coors Field. As we and the rest of the world watched in horror, five more homeless men joined their fate during the next two months?…their bodies found within a one-mile radius of each other, in the South Platte River, the lot near Lipan and 19th Streets, and the field behind Union Station. While the murders may not have occurred in the technical 25-square block region of Lower Downtown, their bodies were found in areas that most of us - and everyone else in Denver - consider LoDo?…or at least our backyard.

For those watching from other parts of the world - and even for some within our own city - LoDo has been depicted as a place where horrible things happen, where crime is constant and safety impossible. In truth, it has been cast as the place it actually was 20 years ago.

But how safe is LoDo today? According to Sergeant Hoffman at District 6, "Lower Downtown is actually a pretty safe place, especially when you consider the rest of the city."

According to District 6 statistics, last year the following arrests were made in what that district considers Lower Downtown: four homicides (related to the transients' murders); one forcible rape; no attempted rapes; 10 armed robberies; 30 aggravated assaults (assaults with weapons); 37 simple assaults (no weapons); 50 burglaries; 211 shoplifting incidents; 83 thefts from motor vehicles; 30 auto thefts and one arson (a campfire started by a transient).

While neighborhood crime rates and statistics aren't available - the city doesn't rate areas with low residential and high visitor population - violent crime in LoDo appears to be only slightly higher than the overall citywide rates of neighborhood crime with some exceptions.

"The main problem LoDo has with violent crime is bar fights," says St. Hoffman. "They account for most of the 30 aggravated assaults in the area." (The citywide rate for aggravated assaults is 2.9 assaults a year.)

Other crimes more common in LoDo than, say the neighborhood of Washington Park, are also linked to LoDo's mixed-use environment.

"As more bars open, we have more aggravated assaults," says St. Hoffman who also stated that shoplifting is up 40 percent from 1998, but robberies, auto theft, arson and theft from motor vehicles have all decreased from last year.

Statistics aside, for those who live and work in LoDo, the area feels safe. "Being a mixed-use neighborhood, there are always so many people walking around and going places," says Dan du Bois, Executive Director of Lower Downtown. "It tends to create a safer environment.

And perhaps this foot traffic and constant activity in LoDo is why the recent television footage of police searching deserted, lightless fields in "Lower Downtown" seemed so foreign to our own perception of LoDo.

It was close to home, but it isn't home.