Coloradans besieged by an unprecedented crime wave can expect little help anytime soon from a public safety plan announced amid fanfare Thursday by Gov. Jared Polis. At best, it is an investment in crime prevention down the road – $113 million over two years to seed early intervention, community outreach, police recruitment and the like.

There’s nothing wrong with that in principle. If sustained, some of the efforts might even head off lives of crime in the next generation. And almost any effort to recruit more cops, especially among communities of color, is probably worth trying.

But the plan does nothing for Colorado’s crime fight – here and now. It’s hardly the “Comprehensive Public Safety Plan of Action” touted by the administration.

That’s why the state’s law enforcement leadership sent a letter to Polis this week distancing itself from the initiative. As reported by our news affiliate Colorado Politics, the letter from the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, the Colorado Fraternal Order of Police and the County Sheriffs of Colorado declined to publicly embrace the Polis plan and cited an “anti?law enforcement sentiment” at the state Capitol.

The letter said proposals pushed by Democrats in the legislature and signed into law by Polis have contributed to soaring criminality in Colorado and made prevention more difficult. The law enforcement coalition said the policy shift prioritized offenders “over victims and public safety.”

They’re right, of course. What’s needed – right now – is legislation to undo the damage done by Polis’ own party in the last few sessions. Majority Democrats in both chambers at the General Assembly have implemented a “justice reform” agenda that by all indicators is actually helping drive up Colorado’s spiraling crime.

Polis’ plan – which he acknowledged Thursday is more about prevention and only “a good first step” – is fine and well as far as it goes. But if he really wants to protect Coloradans and curb crime right now, he should backtrack on bad policies that hobble law enforcement.

Among the policies that should be scrapped immediately is a 2019 bill that incredibly downgraded possession of Schedule I and Schedule II controlled substances, including fentanyl, from a felony to a misdemeanor. That means possession of up to four grams of fentanyl – the opioid that has been killing Colorado kids at an epidemic rate – now warrants no more than a citation from police. Just two milligrams – two thousandths of a gram – will kill you.

The governor reiterated for our editorial board after the debut of his plan on Thursday that he will support legislation restoring stiffer penalties for fentanyl possession. That would reverse part of the damage done by a bill Polis himself signed into law. Unfortunately, he defended decriminalizing a host of other drugs like heroin, cocaine and even meth.

Our state’s law officers who work in the trenches in the crime fight will tell you those who peddle all such drugs lead wide-ranging lives of crime and are a menace to society in general. And right now, cops only can ticket them for possession.

Polis has it within his power to do much more to combat the crime wave. He has the upper hand against the noisy but clueless elements in his own party who want to coddle criminals. As also reported this week by Colorado Politics, Polis proved popular in a recent, respected poll precisely because he is perceived as independent. He could leverage that political capital – in a party that has been trending in the opposite direction – to better protect his fellow Coloradans.

Denver Gazette editorial board