DENVER (KDVR) — The number of murders in the first quarter of the year is down in Colorado, but not by much in Denver.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation tracks the state’s crime by police department. The data is current through the most recent month plus a 30-day entry lag, meaning data should be current through March 31, 2023, barring lagged entries.
In the first quarter of 2023, there were 57 murders throughout the state, down from 77 in the first quarter of 2022 and 87 in the first quarter of 2021. The number of murders spiked during the pandemic, rising from 38 in the first quarter of 2019.
In two of the state’s largest cities, murders in the first quarter of the year have fallen.
The number of first-quarter murders in Aurora has fallen for the first time since the mid-2010s. There were seven murders in the first quarter, down from 11 in 2022. In Colorado Springs, the number of first-quarter murders dropped from 13 in 2022, to three this year.
In Denver however, first-quarter murders have stayed largely the same with a slight decrease. There have been 19 this year, down from 21 in the first quarters of both 2021 and 2022.