This is the tale of Colorado’s unmitigated car theft epidemic and how it is addressed by two politicians: mid-term Gov. Jared Polis and election-year candidate Polis.

In 2019, despite property and violent crime rates that had been on the upward march for much of the past decade and a crime rating in the bottom half of all U.S. states, Polis’ State of the State address made zero mention of crime or victims. One 12-word sentence near the end of the address included the words “criminal justice reform.”

Polis’ 2020 State of the State address made only two passing references to crime in Colorado: mention of the STEM School mass shooting and a plea to the legislature to “pass a package of vital pretrial reforms” designed to allow more accused criminals, including car thieves and burglars, to remain on our streets.

In June of that year, with no election on his horizon, and less than one month after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Polis sent a letter to the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ) criticizing “existing inequities and disparities that exist in… our state” and “the inherent systemic biases in our system toward… inequity, or racial bias.” He implored the CCJJ to take up the cause of “sentence recalibration” and declared that “rehabilitation should be our goal in every case.”

Polis urged that jail and prison be limited to “only the most serious cases” and listed his No. 1 factor in sentencing decisions as “maximizing community safety without excessive supervision or incarceration.” He provided no definition of the cases to which that undefined term would apply.

The legislature responded by passing a 304 page misleadingly titled “Misdemeanor Reform” bill that – among other things – decriminalized the possession of guns by convicted drug dealers and car thieves, as well as making the theft of working-class cars valued at under $2,000 a mere misdemeanor. With the full support of Attorney General Phil Weiser, Polis signed that bill into law on July 6, 2021. Then, over the objections of law enforcement across the state, Polis signed into law a bill that made possession of enough fentanyl to kill 2,000 Coloradans a misdemeanor.

The Common Sense Institute (CSI), followed by the mainstream media, began reporting on Colorado’s historic surge in crime and its economic impact on Coloradans. Only then did government leaders begin to acknowledge what Colorado had been enduring for years. Today, our crime tsunami includes national rankings as No. 1 in car theft and bank robberies, and No. 2 in fentanyl overdoses.

On Sept. 9, CSI issued an updated report entitled “On the Road to $1 Billion in Vehicles Stolen.” It quantified what a growing number of Coloradans have known for a long time: Colorado continues to lead every other state in America in motor vehicle theft. Colorado averages more than 4,000 stolen vehicles each month, 85% of which come from working-class Coloradans with cars valued at less than $25,000. Four of our cities rank in the top 10 in America for stolen automobiles. The media coverage of the car theft epidemic dwarfed Polis’s failed attempt to rebrand TABOR refunds as the “Colorado Cash Back.”

One week after the CSI report, Polis sent another letter to the CCJJ, but this one was remarkably different form the 2020 mid-term letter. This letter implored CCJJ to take swift action to address Colorado’s decade-long spike in car thefts. In his letter, sent one month before ballots will be mailed to voters bearing his name as a candidate for re-election, Polis amended his No. 1 factor for sentencing criminals by deleting the reference to “without excessive supervision or incarceration,” as well as any mention of reserving incarceration for only the most serious cases.

In their place, election-year Polis stated his intention to make Colorado “one of the top-10 safest states” after any potential second term would end. Polis made this same declaration in his State of the State address in January, only months before he signed a new law that maintained the right of convicted drug dealers and car thieves to possess firearms, as well as maintaining the low, misdemeanor penalties for those who steal working-class cars. Polis applauded the CCJJ for “promoting public safety” with that very legislation.

That is odd, because the next section of election-year Polis’ letter admits that car theft is a “devastating crime,” one that is “frequently a precursor crime” to further violence (maybe it’s their guns), and implores the legislature to enhance penalties for car thieves “regardless of the value of the vehicle stolen.” Polis’s proclamations in 2020 about inequities, racial bias and prioritizing rehabilitation for all cases were replaced just this month with a top priority of elevating “the severity of the crime based on the number of prior offenses, specifically targeting prolific auto thieves.”

Who is this guy?

Welcome to the fight for public safety, election-year Polis. Where hath thou been? Which Polis will Coloradans get if they trust him with their vote a second time?

George Brauchler is the former district attorney for the 18th Judicial District. He also is president of the Advance Colorado Academy, which identifies, trains and connects conservative leaders in Colorado. He hosts The George Brauchler Show on 710KNUS Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Follow him on Twitter: @GeorgeBrauchler.