Hugh McKean was elected to represent Colorado House District 51 on November 6, 2016. He has sponsored bills to improve transportation in Northern Colorado, help County governments in natural disaster recovery efforts, apply necessary corrections to statute where County Sheriff training requirements were concerned in addition to many other bills. One of the highlights of the session was co-sponsorship of HB1248 making available $90 million in loans for the Chimney Hollow Reservoir as part of the Windy Gap Firming Project, a vital water infrastructure project that will ensure water security for generations of Front Range Coloradans. Having lived in Loveland for over twenty years he is most proud of raising his children with a “western ethic”, teaching them self-reliance and personal responsibility.
The lies told by my opponent do not really even merit a response but I will say that I HAVE NEVER VOTED TO DEFUND THE POLICE. Letters of support from our state Fraternal Order of Police and the support I have from our State Troopers and our own police department tells the tale of how vigorously I support our men and women on the front lines.
Crime is out of control. From historic increases in property crimes, over a 50% increase in homicides in Denver and auto theft at rates over 100% of the national average we are all feeling the drastic difference in our communities and neighborhoods. Bill after bill theses last two legislative sessions have eviscerated policing in our state, have let suspected criminals out of jail with little or no bond and eliminated penalties for drug possession. Does that sound like good policy for the families and businesses of Colorado? Nope. Not even close. In fact these policies have made things less safe and have led to part of the increased cost of living in Colorado. With over a $4 billion in cost to the people of this state, we all feel the pain and need real answers.
Recently one of my Democrat colleagues spoke against my endorsement of the “broken window theory” of policing. This is the idea of making the enforcement of ALL our laws a central tenet to making sure that our communities are safe. If you prosecute the lesser crimes of vandalism and property damage then the focus on all other crimes follows naturally. In Loveland we have focused on restitution for crime victims, the proper way to make sure that we don’t just lock people up, rather making sure that victims are made whole.
This year I was very active in the space of making sure that law enforcement has the tools they need to do their job. We added money to grant programs to make sure that the body cams, mandated by law, do not take dollars from putting officers on the street. Additionally we will add Crisis Intervention Training as part of the POST curriculum so that every officer is fully aware of various co-responder options available to help folks, many of whom they see on their worst day.
There are ways to compassionately enforce our laws and make sure that people get the help they need. That should be our focus.