This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

DENVER (KDVR) — The Denver Police Department says it is launching a new initiative to counter the increased violence the city has experienced since 2020. Part of the focus is focus – Denver’s violence happens in predictable areas, according to data.

Last year was the most violent in decades. The murder rate spiked by 29% in 2020, along with larger spikes in property crimes. About one person more was killed every week in 2020 than in 2019. Colorado saw a 29% jump in murders and non-negligent manslaughters in 2020 – from 227 in 2019 to 292 last year.

This year has continued the trend.

In a May 24 press conference, DPD Chief Paul Pazen said the city will employ a mixture of infrastructure changes, social services and increased policing in certain areas where the concentration of violent crime is especially high.

DPD data from 2020 highlighted five areas that encompass 1.5% of Denver’s landmass but a quarter of its homicides and half of its aggravated assaults. The areas broadly cover a handful of neighborhoods in the city’s center, northeast and southwest.

This year, crime patterns have remained the same as in 2020, both in volume and concentration.

The map above pinpoints every individual aggravated assault and homicide in Denver since the beginning of the year. This does not include rapes, robberies, simple assaults or other crimes of violent nature.

There are 1,133, altogether – about eight a day.

They are largely concentrated along certain streets, around certain landmarks and intersections and in certain neighborhoods.

Sections of East Colfax Avenue and Colfax Avenue just east of the state Capitol and Alameda Avenue between Sheridan Boulevard and Federal Boulevard are violent arterials. City center violent crime is concentrated near Civic Center Park, Union Station, the 16th Street Mall and the blocks near Coors Field.

By neighborhood, concentrations of violence are familiar. The patterns of violent crimes in 2020 are repeating themselves.

All neighborhoods experience some violent crime, but some have far higher amounts.

Montbello, Five Points, Central Business District, Capitol Hill, Westwood, East Colfax, Green Valley Ranch, Union Station, Central Park and North Capitol Hill have the highest amounts of aggravated assaults and murders so far this year.

Those 10 neighborhoods combined, account for 40% of the city’s aggravated assaults and murders, led by Montbello and Five Points.