New DA sworn in for Colorado's 18th Judicial District, approach to fighting crime "make community safer"
A new district attorney has been sworn in for Colorado's 18th Judicial District. It was the largest in the state before it was officially split this year, sending the 18th District and the brand new 23rd Judicial District down different paths when it comes to how they prosecute crime.
District Attorney Amy Padden stepped into her new role in the 18th Judicial District last week. She's the first Democrat to hold the position in more than 60 years and shared more about her approach to fighting crime and priorities moving forward.
"The primary job of the DA is to make our community safer," said Padden.
The Arapahoe County community began seeing an increase in crime about five years ago. The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office reported a spike in violent crime in 2020, with 271 cases of violent crime. That number rose to 308 cases of violent crime in 2023.
"That's actually started to come back down. We've seen about a 7% reduction of crime in violent crime statewide, as well as within Arapahoe County," said Padden.
She said there is also a higher crime rate in Arapahoe County than in the other three counties that make up the 23rd District, because of the larger population of Arapahoe County. She added the crime rate in Arapahoe County is very similar to El Paso County, which is about the same size.
Padden is now looking into different ways to reduce crime even further in the 18th District.
"One way we're going to prevent crime is by not just punishing people who commit violent crime, but also looking at ways to rehabilitate people," said Padden.
She believes that's done through diversion programs for people who've committed non-violent crimes, are first-time offenders, or are younger offenders.
"We look at these individuals and try to figure out, how did they come into the criminal justice system in the first place," said Padden. "Are they homeless? Do they have a mental health or substance abuse problem?"
These programs will connect offenders with resources to get them back on the right track.
"These programs are very successful. If you look at these programs, if people successfully complete them, they have very low recidivism rates, 9:53 between five and 15%," said Padden.
Padden has lived in Colorado for about 25 years and currently lives in Aurora.
"Aurora is a great, diverse, and relatively safe city, and so do we have people in Aurora who are committing crimes? Yes, we do," she said.
Aurora is also a city that has been the center of national attention because of migrants and gang activity, which could be one of the challenges moving forward.
"It's a small number of individuals causing the problems, and we will prosecute those people when they commit crimes," Padden said.
Padden added it's been a very long time since Arapahoe County constituents were represented by the District Attorney they voted for. Padden also ran for the seat four years ago and won Arapahoe County, but lost in the three other counties that now make up the 23rd District.
"This is an exciting time. I think it's a huge benefit to have a DA that's focused solely on Arapahoe County and the needs and what Arapahoe County wants," said Padden.
Padden added she's always had a calling to public service. She worked at the Colorado Attorney General's Office as a consumer protection prosecutor and in the special prosecutions unit. She also worked at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Colorado for over 10 years.
In a statement from Arapahoe County, they say: "The new 18th Judicial District has 181 employees, which includes 71 attorneys and 21 investigators. Since the election and at DA Padden's request, the County has added an additional attorney to prosecute domestic violence cases, given the increased caseload in the domestic violence unit."
The statement went on to say: "With the redistricting, Arapahoe County allocated additional funds to the district attorney's office to compensate for some economies of scale that were eliminated, as well as the fact that the prior allocation among the four counties was based on population, and not caseload. The County allocated over $21.5 million for the district attorney's office in 2025, nearly $3 million more than in 2024. The State allocated more than $4.6 million in funding to financially support counties through the transition, of which Arapahoe received $1.3 million."
