Centennial State News

Colorado gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl recently declared victory in her fifth and final debate against incumbent Gov. Jared Polis, where she highlighted her anti-crime, pro-law enforcement stance.

According to a release by Ganahl on her candidate website, the candidate forum was hosted by Colorado Mesa University, The Daily Sentinel and Colorado Public Radio.

During the debate, Ganahl said she is dedicated to addressing top issues like inflation and surging crime. In the forum, she reminded Polis that she won the Colorado Fraternal Order of Police’s endorsement. She also highlighted several actions she would take as governor to improve public safety, such as ending Colorado’s sanctuary state status, making possession of any amount of fentanyl a felony and ensuring drug dealers go to jail.

“Crime and drugs are destroying our communities here in Colorado,” Ganahl said in the release. “We should not be no. 1 in auto-theft, or no. 2 in increase in fentanyl deaths. It’s affecting every family I know."

In 2019, Polis signed House Bill 1124 into law which made Colorado a sanctuary state, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). The law bans state and local law enforcement officials from honoring immigration detainers and requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hold criminal aliens who are already in custody for up to 48 hours without a warrant.

The bill also complicates cooperation between ICE and law enforcement officials on federal immigration initiatives, according to FAIR. The report also found that probation officers are restricted from sharing information about illegal aliens under their supervision with ICE.

According to FAIR, the open-borders lobby praises Polis for keeping his promise with the Colorado Immigrants Right Coalition saying the bill will help illegal aliens “feel safe” and have the same rights as American citizens.

“By signing Colorado’s HB 1124, the state has codified a dangerous policy that deliberately obstructs our country’s lawful immigration system, protects serious criminal alien offenders, and undermines public safety,” according to a statement from ICE in May 2019.

Through Ganahl’s website, her campaign shared a letter sent to Polis earlier this year by the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, Colorado Fraternal Order of Police, and County Sheriffs of Colorado, in which the organizations explain why they could not support Polis' public safety budget package.

"We ask that elected officials, such as yourself and state legislators, recognize how recent legislation and policy changes have directly contributed to rising crime rates and struggles to recruit and retain officers,” the letter stated. “The General Assembly has passed several bills, which you have signed into law, that make crime prevention more difficult, and prioritize offenders over victims and public safety.”

Colorado experienced the second-highest increase in fentanyl deaths in the United States between 2019 and 2021, according to a February report by Families Against Fentanyl, Axios Denver reported.

The Common Sense Institute (CSI) of Colorado recently released a crime report that found that crime rates in the state are higher than they were before the pandemic. According to the report, criminal justice reform advocates have succeeded in attaining several measures that harm public safety and have contributed to high crime rates. The report also stated rising crime rates should be accompanied by an increase in criminal convictions and incarcerations “for the sake of public safety and justice for victims.”

Additionally, the population of the Department of Corrections has declined by 15.5%, according to the report. Colorado ranks first in the nation for motor vehicle theft and second for property theft, the report stated. It also estimated 48,000 cars will be stolen in Colorado this year.

The report predicted 2,000 Coloradans will die from drug overdoses in 2022, with 1,500 of them involving fentanyl. State law enforcement officials seized 2 million dosage units of fentanyl between January and May this year, which was more than all of 2021. In 2021, two to three Coloradans died of fentanyl or a synthetic opioid every day, but this number has risen to four to five deaths this year.