Property crime numbers are going down in the city of Pueblo year over year, according to data provided to the Chieftain by the Pueblo Police Department.
Notably, there was a 46% decrease in robberies from January to July of 2025 compared to the same period last year. Pueblo police recorded 81 reports of robbery in that time period of 2025, compared to 150 in 2024.
While robbery is a Part 1 violent crime, it is also a property crime, according to Colorado State Uniform Crime Reporting and Colorado Crime Statistics, as "the offender's intent is to obtain money, property, or some other benefit."
Pueblo Police Chief Chris Noeller told the Chieftain that the drop in robberies has much to do with the approach Pueblo police have taken to tackling other violent crime.
"It's a lot of the same people doing those other violent crimes," Noeller said. "A carjacking is a robbery, so those same individuals doing carjackings are the same individuals shooting up houses or people. Our non-fatal shooting investigation team is making arrests in those cases, and I think it's a trickle-down effect taking those people off the street."
Other non-violent property crime is also down significantly, although by smaller margins: burglary is down 4%, with 522 cases reported in 2025 and 503 reported through July 2025; trespass has seen a marked 34% decline from 319 to 212 incidents in that period; and auto thefts are down 20%, dropping from 826 to 663.
Police also engage in regional Beat Auto Theft Through Law Enforcement (BATTLE) operations funded by the Colorado State Patrol (CSP), in which officers from different regional agencies, including Pueblo PD, the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office, CSP, the Canon City Police Department, the Fremont County Sheriff's Office, and even local parole officers, go out and look for stolen vehicles.
Often, this will also result in the capture of the suspected thieves as well, leading to some of them spending long periods of time off the streets while they are incarcerated.
Theft and larceny have seen a smaller 7% decrease from 1,974 to 1,827 cases.
"Our (Direct Investigation and Community Engagement) team has done a fantastic job working with major retailers trying to address thefts as they're happening," Noeller said.
Vandalism is the only crime category that has seen an increase this year. A total of 1,161 cases of vandalism were reported in the first seven months of 2025, compared to 1,088 from January through July 2024, representing a 7% increase.
Noeller said the uptick in vandalism as largely attributed to unhoused individuals, usually suffering from mental health issues or under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
"It's why our disorderly conduct citations have also gone up over prior years," Noeller said.
In some cases, individuals may commit low-level property crimes such as vandalism in hopes of being taken to jail, he said; however, there is often "nowhere to take them."
"We can't take them to the county jail, because it's not a felony level violation, Parkview Hospital doesn't have any inpatient beds (for mental health patients) and (The Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo) will not take them, so they just get pumped back out into the street," he said.
When asked about the effect of 2024's sweeps of homeless camps on Fountain Creek, Noeller stated that while it may be a factor, the same crimes were likely happening further down on the river instead.
"The ecological disaster down on Fountain Creek before last year — I don't know which is worse," he said.
Overall, Pueblo has seen an almost 10% decrease year to date in property crime, with 4,474 property crimes reported from January through July 2025, compared to 4,911 in the same period of 2024.
Noeller urges the community to take preventive measures. For example, he said if windows are repeatedly broken, they may be replaced by a different material, or shutters placed over the glass while the business is closed. Surveillance cameras may also be installed visibly to deter theft.
Noeller also praised the work of his officers in cutting down on crime in Pueblo — both violent and nonviolent — despite having only 141 officers in the field.
"I'm fortunate to work in the city of Pueblo and for the officers of the Pueblo Police Department. They are the hardest-working group I've ever seen. With 141 officers working, we're lowering crime. It's not just us, but I absolutely give all the credit I can to my officers and support staff here," he said.
"But we can't do it by ourselves. We need the help of the county jail, we need the help of our state legislators, we need the help of the criminal justice system, as well as citizens and business owners to step up and try to take steps to help us prevent crime."
State trends also show decrease
Pueblo's decreases in crime largely match statewide trends, with Colorado seeing a general reduction year to year for the past several years.
While the most current state data is for 2024, property crime — defined by the state as including burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson — has seen a significant decrease from the first half of 2023 to 2024, with a 25.6% decrease from the second quarter of 2023 to the second quarter of 2024.
Last year also saw a 6% drop from the first quarter to the second quarter in property crime statewide, marking the lowest amount of property crime in the last five years, according to Colorado Division of Criminal Justice crime data.
“Property crime rates have not surpassed 850 since 2022 Q3, which had the highest rate in the past five years,” notes a Colorado Division of Criminal Justice report on 2024 second-quarter crime statistics. “Since then, it has been on a steady decline.”
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This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Property crime is declining in Pueblo. Here's why, according to police
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