FBI: Pueblo ranks No. 1 in Colorado for violent crimes

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- Recently released data from the FBI shows Pueblo is ranked number one in the state for violent crimes.

The FBI looked at cities in Colorado with more than 10,000 residents. The Steel City is listed as the number one worst city for violent crime.

"It's challenging to work in any field in law enforcement, I'll be honest with you. But here is pretty challenging. We have call volume, we have a lot of things going on," said Sgt. Frank Ortega with the Pueblo Police Department.

Pueblo's population sits at about 111,756 people. Nine murders were reported, along with 185 rapes, 185 robberies, and 696 aggravated assaults -- totaling 1,110 violent crime reports in 2018. That is equal to 9.9 violent crimes per 1,000 residents.

"Overall our crime is down 16 percent. Those are preliminary numbers from last year. We're still adding up those number, but that's consistent with what we've been seeing since the approval of 2B," said Ortega.

The 2B initiative was put on the ballot to allow more tax dollars to help law enforcement with these crime issues.

"With 2B we have additional officers on the street and have been able to do some self- initiated activity with those additional police officers," Ortega added.

The violent crime trend in Pueblo has been going down, but according to Sgt. Ortega, homicide is still high on their list of violent crimes, with the majority being domestically related.

Below is the full top ten list:

1. Pueblo

2. Denver

3. Aurora

4. Commerce City

5. Federal Heights

6. Sterling

7. Greenwood Village

8. Canon City

9. Colorado Springs

10. Evans