Gazette editorial board: Veto HB 25-1147 to stop the soft-on-crime overreach
The Gazette editorial board | Denver Gazette
Our state was slammed by a crime wave a few years ago — aided and abetted by a notoriously offender- friendly, victims-be-damned Legislature — leaving it to hard-hit local governments to figure out how to respond.
With state lawmakers abandoning the crime fight on every front — hard drugs, auto theft, illegal immigration, you name it — a number of Colorado cities, commendably, took the reins.
Some municipalities imposed stiffer sentences than the state’s for shoplifting and motor vehicle theft. Some made clear they’d continue to cooperate with federal authorities seeking to catch lawbreakers who had entered the country illegally.
Some cities also stepped up policing to bridge the gap in justice created by a Capitol that had gone...