The late comedian Rodney Dangerfield got a lot of laughs out of his trademark lament, “I don’t get no respect.” But it’s no laughing matter when Colorado’s law officers must face the same indignity.

Disregard for the badge has been on the rise in Colorado – both among the criminal element and, more disturbingly, among some of the elected officials who write our laws. It’s unfair to the thousands of Coloradans who put their lives on the line daily to enforce the law, keep the peace and protect us all.

And it is crippling our ability to stop the crime wave engulfing our state.

Our legislature has enacted soft-on-crime laws that water down penalties. So it’s harder to arrest and easier for suspects to return to the streets. Another measure removed liability protections for Colorado’s law officers, exposing them to retaliation simply for doing their jobs.

Some local governments have been dissing the police, as well. Colorado’s largest school district, Denver’s, expelled all 18 school resource officers from its campuses – despite their dedicated work heading off trouble in school hallways and building relationships with kids. Meanwhile, Denver City Hall cut cops’ funding nearly 10% in 2020 following that year’s summer riots. The cuts were blamed on COVID’s economic crash, but little effort was made to prioritize policing in the budget by a city council that gives cops the cold shoulder. It was around that time one council member noted for cop bashing was caught on video shouting racist invective, laced with profanities, at two Denver cops, one Black and one white.

You’d better believe that has had a ripple effect – on law officers’ ability to do their jobs and on the recruitment of new officers. The Gazette’s editorial board got an earful last week from a coalition of law enforcement leaders from across the state.

Colorado Springs Deputy Police Chief Adrian Vasquez told us applications for department openings are down 59% in Colorado’s No. 2 city. Grand Junction Police Chief Doug Shoemaker said his department had been receiving about 300 applications a year but now is getting about 100.

In that same time, Shoemaker said, assaults on officers have soared from around 18 a year over the past decade to 89 in 2020. A surge of over 400% No wonder applications are down.

“People don’t want to be a part of something…that doesn’t feel like you’re being supported,” the chief said.

Mike Deedon, a Denver metro-area police sergeant and vice president of the Colorado Fraternal Order of Police, said police are being waved off by criminal suspects.

“…They were emboldened … the response was, ‘You can’t do this to me, you can’t arrest me, you can’t take me to jail…'” Deedon said.

The breakdown of respect for the badge is especially pronounced in population centers like Denver. Rural Rio Blanco County Sheriff Anthony Mazzola, president of the County Sheriffs of Colorado board, said his department recently hired a veteran cop who had quit a department in the Denver area. The officer told them he was tired of working in an environment where suspects just wanted to “mess with cops.”

Amy Nichols, the County Sheriffs of Colorado’s executive director, traced it back to an attitude among some of the state’s policy makers.

“The tone comes from the top down – ‘Police are bad, police are bad’ – It’s going to trickle down,” Nichols said.

In the face of an epic crime wave, those policy makers may wish to change their tune. Or, voters will do it for them.

Colorado Springs Gazette editorial board