Local news outlets are rarely short on crime reports, but Denver is no St. Louis when it comes to the hard numbers. The Mile High City ranks 141 out of 400 in the latest “City Crime Rankings 2010-11: Crime in Metropolitan America” report, notes The Denver Post, making it the Colorado city with the second worst crime, after Pueblo. The Gateway City claims the worst spot in the nation, while our own Centennial ranks among the safest (at 378) for the second consecutive year. The report breaks down crime into various categories. Statewide, Pueblo tops the list for murder and aggravated assaults; Colorado Springs for rape and burglary; and Aurora for robbery.

Next year’s report may include the murder of 43-year-old deputy Sam Brownlee, who was killed when he caught up with 20-year-old Rueben Reyes yesterday, after a high-speed chase involving a car that was believed stolen resulted in a shootout that claimed the lives of both men. Brownlee is the first Weld County deputy in 70 years to be slain in the line of duty, according to The Greeley Tribune. Brownlee had been a Weld County deputy for the last five years and was well liked in his department. In 2006, he won a life-saving award for administering CPR to an elderly woman, writes 7News. Brownlee was married in the last year and had two children and two stepchildren.