Colorado’s crippling crime wave has unnerved the state’s business community along with everybody else, and that doesn’t bode well for our economy. The Gazette talked to some leading business voices for a news report Friday and found deep concern.

“With Colorado’s recent shootings, it’s no surprise that our Colorado Business Roundtable partners have listed community safety as a top issue impacting the overall business community and individuals,” said Debbie Brown, the Roundtable’s president. 

“We believe crime, substance abuse and homelessness must be viewed with an integrated, long-term approach to save lives, create quality of life and protect business owners and businesses,” Brown said.

What does it do to economic sectors such as tourism, conventions and even everyday retail when out-of-state visitors as well as local patrons must wade through the urban squalor of addicts’ camps? When shopkeepers must post extra security against rampant shoplifting? And when customers are ever less certain of finding their cars when they return to the parking lot?Colorado leads the nation in auto theft, after all.

“When your parents are visiting you overnight in Denver and the first thing you do in the morning is check to see if their car was stolen, it affects your quality of life and feeling of safety,” said Elizabeth Peetz, vice president of government affairs for the Colorado Association of Realtors.

“When you have to check to see if there is a package lockbox near you, or your work will accept packages when you decide where to live, pocketbook issues are affecting your housing decisions,” she said.

And you know your sense of community is in jeopardy when even cherished traditions give way to rising crime. As Peetz noted, “We heard from our local staff who live in Aurora that trick or treaters were very low in the neighborhoods near the murders last night.”

She was referring to a shooting that left four dead last week in Aurora. Another shooting claimed another life two days later in Denver.

As The Gazette report reminded readers, crime has been spiraling across our state. Arson, robbery and vandalism continue to spike in addition to Colorado’s dubious distinction as the country’s auto theft capital.

And that’s not to mention Colorado’s tragic ordeal with the deadly opioid fentanyl, which has killed 462 people so far this year alone. Victims have ranged in age from 1 to 79 years old.

Colorado’s crime wave stems at least in part from a misbegotten “justice reform” movement ushered in by ruling Democrats at the state legislature. Starting several years ago, they began rewriting one criminal law after another to lower penalties for a wide range of crimes and reduce the number of criminal convicts behind bars.

Law-abiding Coloradans are now paying for that misguided policy shift. And our business community has taken notice. Major merchants and small-scale shopkeepers alike are looking over their shoulders. Who’s got their back? So far, it’s not the legislature.

It is well past time for lawmakers to backtrack, revise their bungled handiwork, and take steps to make our state safer.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board