As international conflicts make headlines worldwide, Colorado is waging a war of its own on its home turf. It’s a war with a lower profile and fewer casualties, but it is still a fight for survival, and it is unending.

It is of course the war on crime — callous violence, pervasive theft and deadly illegal drugs like fentanyl. Sometimes it makes the news; often, it’s under the radar for most of the public.

The warriors in that fight are the men and women of law enforcement. Deployed by police departments, sheriff’s offices and other state and local law enforcement agencies, they put their lives on the line every day across Colorado. At great personal risk, they step forward to uphold the law and keep the peace in metropolitan areas and rural communities alike.

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Too often, their selfless and dangerous work goes unnoticed and their sacrifices, unheralded. It’s when a law officer makes the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty that the public tends to notice — and to focus anew on those who give all so the rest of us don’t have to.

Today, the nation observes Peace Officers Memorial Day, the culmination of National Police Week. It’s the day designated 62 years ago by President John F. Kennedy for remembering and honoring law officers who have fallen in the line of duty.

This month, the names of three Colorado law officers who died in service to the public last year — Julian Becerra, Christine Guerin-Sandoval and Michael Moran — were added to the rose granite wall of the Colorado Law Enforcement Memorial at the Colorado State Patrol Academy in Golden. As The Gazette reported, that brings the total to 359 fallen Colorado peace officers whose names have been etched into the memorial since 1979.

Becerra, of the Fountain Police Department, fell off a 40-foot overpass while pursuing a suspect on foot. He later died in the hospital. Guerin-Sandoval, of the Colorado Department of Corrections, was struck and killed by a suspect’s car while she was serving a warrant in Colorado Springs. Moran, of the Cortez Police Department, was shot and killed while making a traffic stop. It’s a tragic toll — in only a year’s time.

Colorado is honoring its fallen officers amid news the state now ranks No. 3 among the “most dangerous” states in annual ratings issued by U.S. News & World Report. The unfortunate and alarming distinction underscores not only the perils of serving in law enforcement but also the soaring crime that has plagued Colorado in recent years.

National Police Week also comes as a Wyoming county sheriff has made news with an in-your-face billboard campaign recruiting law officers from Colorado. “Work in Wyoming where breaking the law is still illegal and cops are funded,” read the Denver billboards sponsored by Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak.

It’s an embarrassing reminder and — especially for Colorado law officers — a painful one that law enforcement in our state doesn’t enjoy the full support of our elected lawmakers in the state Legislature and elsewhere in government.

It’s sad but true. The Legislature as well as some local governments have undermined law enforcement with wide-ranging, terribly misguided policies that go soft on criminals and hard on cops.

It speaks all the more to the honor and dedication of Colorado’s men and women in uniform. They risk their lives to enforce the law — even when some of the politicians who write the laws have abandoned them.

Rank-and-file Coloradans are wiser. They understand there’s a war going on, and we can win it only by supporting our law officers. This week, let’s thank them, as well.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board