Blue state makes $350M 'defund police' comeback after record homicides, violent gang takeovers

Four years after a frenzy to defund police departments nationwide, Colorado voters approved a ballot referendum that earmarked $350 million of the state's budget to recruiting, training and retaining law enforcement officers. 

Proposition 130, which passed with just shy of 53% of votes, will not raise residents' taxes. Instead, funding for the initiative will be pulled from other public services within the state's general fund.

The win for the state's police departments comes after the cities of Aurora and Colorado Springs saw record homicides in 2022, Denver saw homicide rates double in the last decade, and apartment building takeovers by Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua in Aurora made national headlines.

"[Proposition] 130 is a huge comeback in Colorado from the defund the police movement," Aurora City Council Member Danielle Jurinsky, who has previously been vocal about migrant gangs in her city, told Fox News Digital. 

"We back the blue in Colorado!"

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Colorado voters approved a ballot referendum that earmarked $350 million of the state's budget for recruiting, training and retaining law enforcement officers. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Joe Gamaldi, the national vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police, told Fox News Digital that the funding is "a really positive step to show law enforcement that they are supported, that they're going to be funded, and then they're going to have the resources necessary to do their jobs. It's such a big step because it really shows where the public stands for law enforcement in Colorado." 

Gamaldi criticized Denver's decision from earlier this year to cut $8 million from its police department spending to help fund programs for the soaring number of migrants arriving in the city.

"And that's in Denver, where the homicide rate has more than doubled in the last 10 years," he said.

Fox News Digital could not reach the office of Denver Mayor Michael Johnston for comment at press time.

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Alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang overtake an apartment building in Aurora, Colorado, charging rent in exchange for "protection." (Edward Romero)

Critics of the funding initiative have raised concerns that the money taken from the general fund will strip funding from other public services, with Kyle Giddings at the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition telling CPR that the dollar amount is equivalent to "6,000 teacher salaries" and "the whole budget for [the] affordable housing program."

However, Gamaldi told Fox News Digital that "nothing in our communities works unless we have a bedrock platform of public safety." 

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Boulder, Colorado, police officers stand at attention during a memorial for slain Boulder Police Officer Eric Talley on March 22, 2022, in Boulder. Talley was killed responding to a shooting at a grocery store in Boulder that left 10 people dead. (Chet Strange/Getty Images)

"We can't have good schools if they're not safe. Businesses can't thrive if they're not safe," Gamaldi said. "All of it starts with public safety, and that's where the investment needs to be first. And make no mistake, we are hemorrhaging police officers nationwide — we have record amounts of retirements, record amounts of resignations to the tune of 45% increase in resignations nationwide.

"So this funding is needed to not just recruit the next generation of officers, but to keep the experience that we have right now. If we don't make an investment in the law enforcement professionals that we have now, I mean, we could lose this whole thing for an entire generation… Obviously, it is a lot of money, but it's certainly needed right now, and it's really needed now more than ever."

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Ten members of transnational gang Tren de Aragua were arrested in Aurora, Colorado, in connection to "committing acts of violence against members of the migrant community." (Aurora Police Department)

Alex Rose, public information officer for the police department in Wheat Ridge, a city near Denver, told Fox News Digital that although the funding has yet to be allocated, and they are unsure whether their department will be on the receiving end, it would be a useful tool to "make sure that we are incentivizing our officers and [that] our good cops grow their careers here and stay here long term."

"I think that when you zoom out and look at that big picture, the pendulum is swinging back toward supporting law enforcement here in Colorado," Rose said. "It's great to see that our citizens are supporting law enforcement in the state."

Although the Wheat Ridge Police Department currently has a sufficient number of officers, Rose said extra funding would help them establish "that this is a great department to start your career, and… demonstrate that it's an excellent department to finish your career."

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Aurora, Colorado, which has a population of about 390,000, has become the Tren de Aragua gang's home base, officials said. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

"It is an increasingly difficult job to do," Rose said of police work. "The people who suit up every day and continue to keep Wheat Ridge one of the safest communities in Colorado deserve to work at a department that is willing to make it a great place to work."

Proposition 130 was one of several measures geared toward law enforcement on the ballot. Coloradoans also voted to approve Proposition 128, under which people convicted of violent offenses will need to serve 85% of their sentence before becoming eligible for parole. 

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Colorado voters also restored state judges' ability to revoke bail for defendants charged with first-degree murder. When the state's general assembly abolished the state's death penalty in 2020, they also removed an exception to bail requirements for first-degree murder charges.

Now, judges can once again deny bail in these cases "when the proof is evident or the presumption is great that the person committed the crime," according to the constitutional amendment.

"It's no hidden secret that Colorado's electorate is continuing to lean toward the left — it's one of the few states that voted more Democratic [in the 2024 election] than in 2020," Rose told Fox News Digital. "But just because a state is leaning further toward the left doesn't mean they're leaning further from law enforcement and keeping their communities safe."