Under Jared Polis and Phil Weiser’s failed leadership, Colorado has become #1 in auto thefts.

“Once again, Jared Polis flip flops on his policy less than two months from Election Day. While he’s had his entire term to change Colorado’s trajectory as the #1 state in the nation on auto theft, Polis is only now deciding he needs to do something serious. Yesterday, he asked the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice and the legislature to reverse his own law – a law he asked for in 2020 and signed in 2021 that made auto theft of cars worth $2,000 or less a mere misdemeanor. This policy led to spikes in car thefts, specifically against the most vulnerable Coloradans. In an Election Year about-face, Polis is now asking for his own law to be reversed.”

Background:

• In 2020, Jared Polis sent this letter to the CCJJ, asking for sentencing reform, to include ending jail sentences for people who committed crimes he didn’t consider a serious public threat.
• In 2021, Jared Polis signed SB21-271 into law, after it was recommended by the CCJJ, making it a misdemeanor to steal a car valued at $2,000, allowing the poorest Coloradans to be targeted with auto theft.
• On September 15, 2022, Jared Polis sent this letter to the CCJJ, asking them and the legislature to reverse the policy in SB21-271 and finally take the auto theft crisis seriously – a policy Republicans in the legislature, on the Aurora City Council, and Attorney General candidate John Kellner have already been advocating for.