It looks like Colorado is on track for the second year in a row to claim the dubious title of No. 1 state for auto theft. That’s among the startling findings of the latest crime study released Thursday by Colorado’s Common Sense Institute.

Alarming, galling, embarrassing and depressing are among the words that should come to mind for most Coloradans. And it’s even worse than that. It’s also deeply troubling because — as law officers long have pointed out, and the new data form Common Sense makes clear — auto theft is tied to other serious crimes. Motor vehicles sometimes are stolen though violent car-jackings; they are the getaway vehicles in liquor store robberies; they are a source of quick cash to sustain drug addictions, and they provide a revenue stream for criminal enterprises.

This week’s Common Sense findings put a bold underline on that grim reality: The number of secondary offenses related to motor vehicle theft has increased more than six-fold since 2008, the think tank noted in a summary of its report. Drug crimes involving motor vehicle theft have increased 1,110%; violent crimes involving motor vehicle theft were up 521%, and property crimes involving motor vehicle theft were 583% higher.

All of which dovetails, unfortunately, with the epic crime wave in general that has engulfed Colorado and sent statistics soaring for everything from property crime to homicide.

The study’s overall data on auto theft is sobering:

• As the institute notes in its summary, at the current rate of 4,007 thefts per month, motor vehicle thefts in the state are on pace to exceed 48,000 for this year—an all-time high. At that rate, Colorado once again is sure to post the highest auto-theft rate in the nation by year’s end.
• The estimated total value of all the vehicles that are projected in the analysis to be stolen this year is between $468 million and $848 million.
• Arrests are not keeping pace with theft. The arrest rate per motor vehicle theft is 9.4%, down from 15.5% in 2019.

That last data point highlights the root of the problem — and also suggests a solution: Not enough auto thieves are facing serious consequences from the justice system. Which of course is a part and parcel of the broader breakdown of law and order ushered in by Colorado policy makers in their fit of “justice reform.”

When it comes to auto theft, leading voices in law enforcement have blamed in part a 2014 law passed by the legislature that watered down penalties for motor vehicle theft. Inevitably, there was a surge in auto thefts the very next year. The 2014 measure downgraded auto theft to a lower-level felony for vehicles under $20,000 in value.

The numbers in the new Common Sense study clearly reveal the results. We are reaping what our lawmakers have sown.

The study’s authors — Democratic former Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey and Republican former 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler, who are now fellows with the think tank, and Steven Byers, Ph.D. — offer some telling observations in their concluding remarks.

“Motor vehicle theft is treated as a ‘low level’ crime by Colorado’s criminal justice system. Unless there are significant changes in the way the car theft epidemic is tackled, the quality and safety of Colorado will continue to decline…,” they write.

They make these recommendations:

• End the revolving door of jail by denying personal recognizance bonds without prosecutor approval to anyone pending a car theft prosecution, or who has previously been convicted of car theft.
• Deny probation eligibility for a second or subsequent conviction for motor vehicle theft, absent consent of the prosecutor.

Let’s put those on the to-do list for the General Assembly when it reconvenes.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board