Denver City Wire

Officers with the Denver Police Department are going door-to-door to hand out free light bulbs so residents can light the exterior of their homes in an effort to reduce nighttime crime.

DPD announced officers from District 4, in partnership with Excel Energy and Denver Councilman Kevin Flynn, will distribute the free light bulbs in southwest Denver neighborhoods, according to an Oct. 6 Facebook post. The Light the Night event is intended to hamper criminals' ability to move undetected in darkness, the post states.

“And in order to accomplish this, officers, volunteers and Councilmen Flynn are pounding the pavement in neighborhoods in southwest Denver, talking to residents and providing them with a free light bulb to illuminate their exterior of their homes," the department wrote on Facebook.

An Oct. 3 report from research group Common Sense Institute (CSI) of Colorado, finds Colorado ranks first in the country for motor vehicle thefts and second in the country for property thefts, estimating 48,000 cars will be stolen in the state in 2022. Crime rates increased in several major categories, including drug possession and sales, prostitution, robbery, vandalism and arson, CSI reports. 

The CSI report found Denver ranks 12th out of 167 cities for its increases in murder rates at 23.3% and 16th in aggravated assault at 11.3%. Among the 167 cities included in the report, Denver ranked eighth in rapes, 36th in arson, 32nd in homicides, 24th in aggravated assaults, 24th in robberies and second in auto thefts. 

George Brauchler, the former District Attorney for Colorado's 18th Judicial District and one of the authors of the Common Sense Institute report, said recent attempts in the state to reform the criminal justice systems were insufficient and lawmakers should use data to develop effective policies, according to a Denver Gazette report. 

"When we give (the data) to them because they don't like the answer, they pooh-pooh the report, or they pooh-pooh the data," he said. "Let's focus on getting as much good data as possible to really make good policy decisions."