Colorado law enforcement says crime is dropping in Arapahoe County, credits collaboration and community

Authorities in the Denver metro area say there's been a significant reduction in crime in Arapahoe County, including a large decrease in auto thefts. This includes Centennial, Bennett, and unincorporated parts of the county.

Sheriff Tyler Brown of the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office credits the collaborative work of teams within the department and with the community for making communities safer.

"Attacking these problems from a multitude of angles is really important," said Brown. "I think when you see a team work collaboratively, these are the results that you get."

The ACSO recently released its 2025 Annual Report. From 2024 to 2025, there's been about a 45% decrease in auto thefts, a 23% decrease in burglaries and a 14% decrease in robberies. Brown added that addressing crime in one area means reducing crime in others.

"It is important for people to understand that a lot of these singular crimes have nexus to other criminal activity, whether that be the burglaries, or the robberies, or just the general thefts, or drug trafficking," said Brown. "If we can capture those individuals and hold them accountable, it's important."

There's also been a 42% decrease in thefts from cars in Centennial, and a 31% decrease in thefts from cars in unincorporated Arapahoe County.

The Special Response Team includes SWAT team members, plus special weapons and tactics members. The SRT, formed in 2021, responds to high-risk calls and situations, such as auto thefts. Auto thefts are where the county has seen the biggest decrease in crime.

"This allows them to not be tied down to just radio calls in a specific jurisdictional area. It allows them to have essentially free rein to go and investigate problem areas or areas that we see trending in a certain direction that they can use their special skills to address it," said Brown.

Brown added that the Investigations Unit is using technology to dive deeper into criminal investigations, and that the Community Resource Team is building trust and transparency in the community and relaying information back to the office.

"The Community Resource team doesn't silo that information; they share it with the Special Investigations Unit, which is our narcotics team. They share it with our Special Response Team, with detectives, with the crime analysts," said Brown.

What's also helped, Brown shared, is the use of technology like drones as first responders and automated license plate readers, known as Flock cameras. Drones as first responders are dispatched to scenes of reported crimes, and deputies can then gather information about what's happening. In 2025, drones were used in nearly 180 calls.

With Flock cameras, Brown wants to ensure guardrails are in place to use the cameras responsibly and avoid invading people's privacy, but he also wants to address and share with people how the license plate readers have helped solve crimes.

"We're solving homicides, we're solving child abductions, we're solving sex assault cases, we're finding people that are missing," said Brown. "We're utilizing it, and it's important that people understand that it is a force multiplier for us. But with that, we need to make sure that we are within the guardrails of what our constituencies want and feel is appropriate."

Brown said the sheriff's office continues to invest in programs that support youth and young adults. The Office is equipping the community with resources they need to be productive members of society. The hope is also to reduce recidivism and the number of people booked into jail.

"I think we're going to see a drastic reduction in fentanyl use, and hopefully, we'll see a reduction here soon in overdoses because of the work that we're putting in now with the youth," said Brown.

Brown says that, moving forward, the department will also use artificial intelligence to make certain tasks more efficient.