August 20, 2025 • 16 mins
LET'S CHECK IN WITH DA GEORGE BRAUCHLER About Douglas County's crime stats for a hot minute, shall we? The numbers are down and the criminals aren't from around here.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining me now is the guy who has been doing this.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's wild.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
What's happening in the twenty third congressional district or not
a judicial district?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Wild.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
They have laws and they're on the books, and then
people come and they break the laws, and then we
arrest them. And I say we because I live in
the twenty third judicial district, and then this insane thing happens.
The district attorney actually prosecutes people and if they commit
a bad enough crime, he puts them in jail. It's
(00:34):
crazy if you live in Denver, but I don't. I
live in the twenty third Congressional district, where my next guest,
George Brockler, is the guy doing those things. George, is
it cool to work in a place where other people
around you want you to actually enforce the law?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
The support is ridiculous, and I I have to believe
that some of the other prosecutors in the metro area
feel like I do about crime what they want to do,
but they are tamped down by the politics.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Of the area.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I mean, if you look at a Rapahoe, jeff Co,
Denver Adams, they're all blue, blue, blue counties and they
have to navigate things like arm reduction, and what about
what do we do with the illegal immigrants? And should
we put them in a position that they can be
deported and what if they're convicted? And who else can
(01:26):
we blame for society's ills? That just isn't us down here.
It's very straightforward. It's something.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
I live here.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I've been in this county for almost thirty years. I
still have two kids under my roof in public school here,
so this place matters to me. And we just happen
to be in a place where everybody is like right.
We think we're freer if we're safer, and we think
that olden people accountable for violations and the laws the
way to do it.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
And I happen to be in agreement with that.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I do too.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I got to tell you I got super mad. I'm
going to just share this with you. I am in
a large sort of you know, one of those sort
of target Walmart variety type stores.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
It was neither of those. It was a different store, and.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Two of the clerks behind the car counter were talking
about they had watched someone shoplift a lot of stuff
and there was nothing they could do.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I said, did you call the police? This is in
Douglas County.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
She goes, no, we're told by corporate not I said,
and let them know in Douglas County they will show up.
And that's the difference, right, I mean, because even just
enforcing those little things, I will never forget the video,
and I think it was Parker PD that was put
out of a guy getting arrested for something and as
he's getting arrested, he's on body camp footage of saying, God,
they don't even they don't even put the cuffs on
(02:40):
in Denver, like God, this sucks. This only happens in
Douglas County. And I was like, right on, dudes, spread
spread the word to your friends, because ultimately, let's talk
about some statistics you guys just talked about earlier this month.
One of the statistics that jumped out at me sort
of but not really, because I think everyone in Douglas
County is nice. Our criminals are not from here, As
(03:01):
they say, where are they coming from?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Well, that's a great question. The bulk of the out
of town criminals, and I would say that about fifty
percent or more of the crime committed down here, of
all kinds in Douglas County. It's committed by people who
don't call our place home. And the biggest contributor to
that number is Denver. They represent twenty five percent of
(03:27):
that number. Auroras in second at about nineteen percent. And
then you see some of the other cities in Arapahoe County,
the Littleton's, the Inglewoods contributing other lesser numbers. But it's
a significant amount of crime that happens down here. And
if you look at the property crime in particular, because
there are some crimes that are more homegrown, domestic violence,
(03:50):
crimes against children, homicides tend to be things that come
out of a community, and our numbers are very good
on that the property crimes. People come here to be
tourists for sure, and one of the ways we're going
to tackle that is I came out and pledged early on.
We are going to arrest every single thief. You may
(04:10):
spend only one night in jail. That's up to a judge,
not to us, because we're going to lock you up
and remind you that if you're bound to commit a crime,
and I.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Hope you don't, right, you should go do it somewhere else.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And that I absolutely love. There was a little town
in Georgia when I was a kid that had a
similar situation where they were on an interstate, so people
woul kind of stop by, steal stuff, rob things, whatever,
And they passed a little ordnance in their town that
required everyone to learn how to carry a firearm. And
I mean it was a small town, and then they
(04:42):
put up big old billboards that said it is a
law in this town that everyone is armed, just to
let you know where you're going. Amazingly, crime stopped in
the little town on the interstate.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
It was just went away.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
There was like nothing else happened. And that's where I
wanted to have you on the show. And for two reasons.
I want to talk to something you said at the
beginning of this interview, and that is that you know,
district attorneys in other counties don't have the sort of
support you have down there because you've got a bunch
of sheriffs and and police chiefs and law enforcement officers
that are that are that have your back and are
(05:16):
excited that you have their back as well. I have
to say, I'm sure you saw the guy in Washington.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
D c.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Who hit a Border patrol agent with his subway sandwich
after an extended fit of screaming in the face of
this guy that he was a fascist in all of
this stuff, and then come to find out this dude
is a trial attorney for the Department of Justice. If
that is not sort of a little window into what
you're talking about, I don't.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Know what is.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
So how do we get people in these offices, not
even like an elected office like you're in. How do
you get employees in these offices who are committed to
upholding the law?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
How does that? How do you change that culture?
Speaker 4 (06:00):
That's a great question one.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
And I can't take one hundred percent credit for this,
because the community sells itself. As you know, you're down here,
and I think that people listening in Colorado and beyond
au to know the heads of our federal agencies out here, FBI, DEA,
ATF those guys in gals and their number two's almost
you universally choose Douglas County to live here. So we
(06:23):
already have a reputation of being very pro law enforcement
and safe. And so you have that, and then you
come in with a guy who's willing to come forward
not only answer hard questions, but tackle the mythology about
punishment and crime, and pretty soon you start attracting people
to apply to your office who are like, I want
to be a crime fighter.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
I want to be a justice seeker.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I don't want to be in the business of just
being a social worker with a law degree, like I
want to actually do stuff, and you start to develop
that it doesn't mean you can't make mistakes. But when
I saw that story, I was like, give me a break.
And for anyone out there thinking what would we do here,
I don't know the class charge, but there's no question
I would support a prosecution of that guy, no question.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I mean it was so outrageous but also incredibly sad.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I mean that guy needs help.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
He doesn't need he needs help, and he also needs
to face the consequences for his actions. Let me ask
you specifically, where have we seen where are our crime
rates in Douglas County growing up going down? Where have
we seen the biggest increases, the biggest decreases.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Well overall, we're seeing a decrease. And I'll give you
a couple examples that you know. Look, I'm not a
social scientist, but I noted that I can tell you
that in the seven ish eight months here that we're
approaching that. We've been doing this sort of approach to
law enforcement, which is come down here and victimize us
and plan on staying that.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
We've seen some good numbers. I'll give you an example
motor vehicle theft.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Last year, before I took over, the arrest rate, the
incarceration rate for motor vehicle theft was about two thirds,
and we still saw a slight decrease about nine percent.
This year, it's ae hundred percent incarceration rate, and we've
already seen were on pace for a reduction I think
of another twenty five percent, so we're seeing crime drop.
(08:12):
I reached out to Loan Tree, Parker, Castle Rock if
there's any blips up.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
There are blips that I don't attribute as much to.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
An increase in crime as an increased pursuit of crime.
You brought up the fact that you were in a
store we held, and when I say we, I mean
the sheriff, all three chiefs of police and me got
together like the fifteen to twenty biggest retailers in Douglas
County and sat down and had the conversation you talked about,
which was, Hey, whatever you were doing in the past,
leave it in the past, you call us cops are
(08:41):
going to come out, and the cops are going to
come out, and when they make an arrest, you're going
to get a guy that's going to have his team
prosecute them. And we've already started to see more interaction
between some of those like the outlet stores that had
been doing nothing and just treating it like it's a
cost of business. We've seen more communication from them with
Castle Rock PD and so in Loan Tree with Park
(09:01):
Meadows than we'd had previously, maybe ever. And so this
is actually working and this is why we're seeing our
numbers coming down well.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
And I want to talk about another experience that I
did have at Walmart. This actually did happen at Walmart.
I'm coming out of Walmart and there are like five
cop cars. They're surrounded this other car where they were
loading a bunch they were in the process. Two women
are in the process of loading a bunch of laundry detergent, right,
so they're stealing the laundry detergent. So the cops are
there and everything, and I was like, I walked bo
I was like, yeah, I gave them the old you know,
(09:31):
big fist up or whatever. And the cops kind of
looked and laughed, you know, over at me. But it
was so nice because all of those costs get passed
on to all consumers.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Right, we're all paying for that theft.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Do you think that because and I was actually told
by a different police officer, they believe that those kind
of shoplifting situations, those women are part of a much
bigger ring of shoplifters. Right, They're not just coming in
on their own. So what impact does that have on
keeping those rings out of Douglas County? I mean, they
don't I want there people to get arrested.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Well, I think the message carries more more weight than
we can really quantify. And I say that criminals don't
know the exact law, but they know how the law
works and where it works. And so you know, the message,
in part from the very beginning, has been we are
going whether you're a shoplifter of one item or part
(10:25):
of a bigger ring, we're here to hold you accountable.
We just got and you talked about all the partners
that support us. I don't want to leave out the
county commissioners. These are the guys that have the purse
strings that allow us to do things like and this
is what we've done. We now have a standalone senior
prosecutor who does economic crime and elder abuse crime.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
How wonderful.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
And so we're going.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
To start pursuing these rings, working our way up the chain,
much like you would with a drug trafficking organization, and
we're going to pursue these people.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
For things called COCA.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
It's if people are listening, it's like our state's version
of RICO, like an organized crime statute. And we're going
to start tuning these people up. And I don't think
we're going to have to do it at the same
pace and level for the next four to eight years
that I'm here, because after the first couple and the
word gets spread out there, people are gonna say, I
think I'll just stay in Denver, And that's fine with me.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
That's like my mom was a longtime teacher and or
the piece of advice she always gave to new teachers
is the mean on the first day. You can always
get nicer, but you can't get tougher, So you're just
being mean on the first day. Teacher George Brockler, not
really teacher, District Attorney of the twenty third Judicial District
George Brocklers, who's joining me.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I just got a question, and I don't know I'm
gonna ask you.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Will you ask George about that stupid TikTok trend where
kids are putting their foot into your front door?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
What can you do as the homeowner? Do you know
what they're talking about?
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Basically, like these kids are knocking and then when people open,
they shove their foot into the door so you can't
close it. Now, if that's me, I'm gonna break somebody's
leg off closing that door on. This just never ceases
to amaze me how stupid kids can be.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Have you seen this at all?
Speaker 4 (12:06):
No?
Speaker 3 (12:07):
But my gut tells me once again for reasons we
talked about previously off air, and that is we are
a vigorous Second Amendment supporting county out here.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
I think that's a mistake and I think it's a risk.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
I'm not telling you that sticking your foot in the
door buys you some sort of gunplay. I'm just telling
you that's a reality down here that could happen.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Why would you ever take that risk?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
That act in and of itself is a trespass, right,
It's a non consensual entrance into that house, even if
it's just the foot. Now, we've done a lot to
water down our juvenile justice laws in a way that
I don't think makes us safer. But it's not like
they're nonexistent. It's not like we're just gonna hug it out.
You can be arrested, you can be brought in, and
then mom and dad are going to start throwing out
(12:51):
money towards attorneys to try to figure out a way
to keep you from ruining your life over a stupid joke.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
D George Bruckler, you've got your next campaign slogan, George Brockler,
We're not going to hug it out.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
I think that'll be it. The last question.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
I have for you, and it really has to do
with crime overall. And I kind of mentioned this earlier
in the show, the conversations about what's happening in Washington,
DC right now. To me, it is the most distressing
part of the entire conversation is that you have Washington, DC,
which last year was the most violent city in the country. Murders, carjackings,
(13:30):
violent crime, crimes against persons, crimes against property, most violent
city in the country. So you have the president bringing
the National Guard, and he says he's going to clean
things up. And the argument being made by people against
this is, hey, crime is down thirty percent.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (13:47):
What are you worried about? Crime is down thirty percent?
So that means the seventy percent of crime that it's
still happening for some reason in some people's heads.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Is okay.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
And it's almost like we boiled the frog to make
us think that it is okay that seventy percent of
that crime is still going to exist as long as
it's down thirty percent up to this point. What's your
take on that? I mean, should people expect to feel
safe in their community?
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Oh? One hundred percent?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I mean, listen, government does way too much right now
at every level, but one of its core functions is
to protect the citizenry, right like public state, and for
the federal government at the national level to protect the country.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
That's the core competency.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
And when you're failing at that at the local level,
especially if you're a federal enclave like DC is, you
should expect someone to show up and do something. I
am taken as you are with the argument that, hey,
someone who has cancer throughout their body is told, hey,
your hand is cancer free. I mean so, I mean,
you know what I mean, you're looking for cancer free everywhere, right, Like,
(14:53):
this argument is nonsense. And now what we're starting to
hear is maybe they're cooking the books, right Like you're
starting to see these stories about maybe when they were
being called out on things that might have been classified
as violent crime or something else, they were classified as
I don't know, aggressive jaywalking. I don't know what they
were doing, but they were changing some of the numbers.
I don't think this could be replicated anywhere else because
(15:14):
I don't think the federal government has the ability to
deploy the National Guard and certainly not the title ten
federal troops anywhere else for this purpose.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
But in DC.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Look, when the violent crime capital of your country is
the capital of your country, it's.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Not a good look, correct, something that you got to tackle. Well.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
I actually think that a lot of people, I think
a lot of Democrats are very afraid that it is
going to work, because then it sort of dispels the
notion that nothing can be done right, that this is
just the price of living in a big city. Whenever
anything goes south, and I'm going to use Denver as
a perfect example of this.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
When I moved here.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I've only been here since twenty thirteen, but I feel
like I've seen the entire arc.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
I used to tell people how clean Denver was, how
friendly everybody was, how safe I felt in Denver. So
since then, in twelve years, I've kind of watched it
fall apart. And yet Mayor Michael Hancock said it, Mayor
Mike Johnston says it, Well, these are the same problems
they have in other big cities. I like to remind
them other big Democrat run cities, because I think that's
(16:13):
an important part.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Of this piece of the puzzle.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
But I, for one, am happier down on the twenty
third and doing what you're doing, and keep up the
good work, and let everybody in your office know. I
sure appreciate them coming to support the endeavor as well.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Oh they'll like to hear that thanks for having us
on to talk about it.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
And we're going to continue.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
To have cases that are going to be worth letting
folks know about so that they know not to come
down here if they're inclined to commit crimes.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
So if you're willing to talk about them, so are.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
We all right, George. That's George Brockler. We'll talk to
you again. Sue, my friend, see it all right, That
is George Brockler.
Joining me now is the guy who has been doing this.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
It's wild.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
What's happening in the twenty third congressional district or not
a judicial district?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Wild.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
They have laws and they're on the books, and then
people come and they break the laws, and then we
arrest them. And I say we because I live in
the twenty third judicial district, and then this insane thing happens.
The district attorney actually prosecutes people and if they commit
a bad enough crime, he puts them in jail. It's
(00:34):
crazy if you live in Denver, but I don't. I
live in the twenty third Congressional district, where my next guest,
George Brockler, is the guy doing those things. George, is
it cool to work in a place where other people
around you want you to actually enforce the law?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
The support is ridiculous, and I I have to believe
that some of the other prosecutors in the metro area
feel like I do about crime what they want to do,
but they are tamped down by the politics.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Of the area.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I mean, if you look at a Rapahoe, jeff Co,
Denver Adams, they're all blue, blue, blue counties and they
have to navigate things like arm reduction, and what about
what do we do with the illegal immigrants? And should
we put them in a position that they can be
deported and what if they're convicted? And who else can
(01:26):
we blame for society's ills? That just isn't us down here.
It's very straightforward. It's something.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
I live here.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I've been in this county for almost thirty years. I
still have two kids under my roof in public school here,
so this place matters to me. And we just happen
to be in a place where everybody is like right.
We think we're freer if we're safer, and we think
that olden people accountable for violations and the laws the
way to do it.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
And I happen to be in agreement with that.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I do too.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I got to tell you I got super mad. I'm
going to just share this with you. I am in
a large sort of you know, one of those sort
of target Walmart variety type stores.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
It was neither of those. It was a different store, and.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Two of the clerks behind the car counter were talking
about they had watched someone shoplift a lot of stuff
and there was nothing they could do.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I said, did you call the police? This is in
Douglas County.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
She goes, no, we're told by corporate not I said,
and let them know in Douglas County they will show up.
And that's the difference, right, I mean, because even just
enforcing those little things, I will never forget the video,
and I think it was Parker PD that was put
out of a guy getting arrested for something and as
he's getting arrested, he's on body camp footage of saying, God,
they don't even they don't even put the cuffs on
(02:40):
in Denver, like God, this sucks. This only happens in
Douglas County. And I was like, right on, dudes, spread
spread the word to your friends, because ultimately, let's talk
about some statistics you guys just talked about earlier this month.
One of the statistics that jumped out at me sort
of but not really, because I think everyone in Douglas
County is nice. Our criminals are not from here, As
(03:01):
they say, where are they coming from?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Well, that's a great question. The bulk of the out
of town criminals, and I would say that about fifty
percent or more of the crime committed down here, of
all kinds in Douglas County. It's committed by people who
don't call our place home. And the biggest contributor to
that number is Denver. They represent twenty five percent of
(03:27):
that number. Auroras in second at about nineteen percent. And
then you see some of the other cities in Arapahoe County,
the Littleton's, the Inglewoods contributing other lesser numbers. But it's
a significant amount of crime that happens down here. And
if you look at the property crime in particular, because
there are some crimes that are more homegrown, domestic violence,
(03:50):
crimes against children, homicides tend to be things that come
out of a community, and our numbers are very good
on that the property crimes. People come here to be
tourists for sure, and one of the ways we're going
to tackle that is I came out and pledged early on.
We are going to arrest every single thief. You may
(04:10):
spend only one night in jail. That's up to a judge,
not to us, because we're going to lock you up
and remind you that if you're bound to commit a crime,
and I.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Hope you don't, right, you should go do it somewhere else.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
And that I absolutely love. There was a little town
in Georgia when I was a kid that had a
similar situation where they were on an interstate, so people
woul kind of stop by, steal stuff, rob things, whatever,
And they passed a little ordnance in their town that
required everyone to learn how to carry a firearm. And
I mean it was a small town, and then they
(04:42):
put up big old billboards that said it is a
law in this town that everyone is armed, just to
let you know where you're going. Amazingly, crime stopped in
the little town on the interstate.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
It was just went away.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
There was like nothing else happened. And that's where I
wanted to have you on the show. And for two reasons.
I want to talk to something you said at the
beginning of this interview, and that is that you know,
district attorneys in other counties don't have the sort of
support you have down there because you've got a bunch
of sheriffs and and police chiefs and law enforcement officers
that are that are that have your back and are
(05:16):
excited that you have their back as well. I have
to say, I'm sure you saw the guy in Washington.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
D c.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Who hit a Border patrol agent with his subway sandwich
after an extended fit of screaming in the face of
this guy that he was a fascist in all of
this stuff, and then come to find out this dude
is a trial attorney for the Department of Justice. If
that is not sort of a little window into what
you're talking about, I don't.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Know what is.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
So how do we get people in these offices, not
even like an elected office like you're in. How do
you get employees in these offices who are committed to
upholding the law?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
How does that? How do you change that culture?
Speaker 4 (06:00):
That's a great question one.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
And I can't take one hundred percent credit for this,
because the community sells itself. As you know, you're down here,
and I think that people listening in Colorado and beyond
au to know the heads of our federal agencies out here, FBI, DEA,
ATF those guys in gals and their number two's almost
you universally choose Douglas County to live here. So we
(06:23):
already have a reputation of being very pro law enforcement
and safe. And so you have that, and then you
come in with a guy who's willing to come forward
not only answer hard questions, but tackle the mythology about
punishment and crime, and pretty soon you start attracting people
to apply to your office who are like, I want
to be a crime fighter.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
I want to be a justice seeker.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
I don't want to be in the business of just
being a social worker with a law degree, like I
want to actually do stuff, and you start to develop
that it doesn't mean you can't make mistakes. But when
I saw that story, I was like, give me a break.
And for anyone out there thinking what would we do here,
I don't know the class charge, but there's no question
I would support a prosecution of that guy, no question.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I mean it was so outrageous but also incredibly sad.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
I mean that guy needs help.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
He doesn't need he needs help, and he also needs
to face the consequences for his actions. Let me ask
you specifically, where have we seen where are our crime
rates in Douglas County growing up going down? Where have
we seen the biggest increases, the biggest decreases.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Well overall, we're seeing a decrease. And I'll give you
a couple examples that you know. Look, I'm not a
social scientist, but I noted that I can tell you
that in the seven ish eight months here that we're
approaching that. We've been doing this sort of approach to
law enforcement, which is come down here and victimize us
and plan on staying that.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
We've seen some good numbers. I'll give you an example
motor vehicle theft.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Last year, before I took over, the arrest rate, the
incarceration rate for motor vehicle theft was about two thirds,
and we still saw a slight decrease about nine percent.
This year, it's ae hundred percent incarceration rate, and we've
already seen were on pace for a reduction I think
of another twenty five percent, so we're seeing crime drop.
(08:12):
I reached out to Loan Tree, Parker, Castle Rock if
there's any blips up.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
There are blips that I don't attribute as much to.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
An increase in crime as an increased pursuit of crime.
You brought up the fact that you were in a
store we held, and when I say we, I mean
the sheriff, all three chiefs of police and me got
together like the fifteen to twenty biggest retailers in Douglas
County and sat down and had the conversation you talked about,
which was, Hey, whatever you were doing in the past,
leave it in the past, you call us cops are
(08:41):
going to come out, and the cops are going to
come out, and when they make an arrest, you're going
to get a guy that's going to have his team
prosecute them. And we've already started to see more interaction
between some of those like the outlet stores that had
been doing nothing and just treating it like it's a
cost of business. We've seen more communication from them with
Castle Rock PD and so in Loan Tree with Park
(09:01):
Meadows than we'd had previously, maybe ever. And so this
is actually working and this is why we're seeing our
numbers coming down well.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
And I want to talk about another experience that I
did have at Walmart. This actually did happen at Walmart.
I'm coming out of Walmart and there are like five
cop cars. They're surrounded this other car where they were
loading a bunch they were in the process. Two women
are in the process of loading a bunch of laundry detergent, right,
so they're stealing the laundry detergent. So the cops are
there and everything, and I was like, I walked bo
I was like, yeah, I gave them the old you know,
(09:31):
big fist up or whatever. And the cops kind of
looked and laughed, you know, over at me. But it
was so nice because all of those costs get passed
on to all consumers.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Right, we're all paying for that theft.
Speaker 4 (09:42):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Do you think that because and I was actually told
by a different police officer, they believe that those kind
of shoplifting situations, those women are part of a much
bigger ring of shoplifters. Right, They're not just coming in
on their own. So what impact does that have on
keeping those rings out of Douglas County? I mean, they
don't I want there people to get arrested.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Well, I think the message carries more more weight than
we can really quantify. And I say that criminals don't
know the exact law, but they know how the law
works and where it works. And so you know, the message,
in part from the very beginning, has been we are
going whether you're a shoplifter of one item or part
(10:25):
of a bigger ring, we're here to hold you accountable.
We just got and you talked about all the partners
that support us. I don't want to leave out the
county commissioners. These are the guys that have the purse
strings that allow us to do things like and this
is what we've done. We now have a standalone senior
prosecutor who does economic crime and elder abuse crime.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
How wonderful.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
And so we're going.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
To start pursuing these rings, working our way up the chain,
much like you would with a drug trafficking organization, and
we're going to pursue these people.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
For things called COCA.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
It's if people are listening, it's like our state's version
of RICO, like an organized crime statute. And we're going
to start tuning these people up. And I don't think
we're going to have to do it at the same
pace and level for the next four to eight years
that I'm here, because after the first couple and the
word gets spread out there, people are gonna say, I
think I'll just stay in Denver, And that's fine with me.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
That's like my mom was a longtime teacher and or
the piece of advice she always gave to new teachers
is the mean on the first day. You can always
get nicer, but you can't get tougher, So you're just
being mean on the first day. Teacher George Brockler, not
really teacher, District Attorney of the twenty third Judicial District
George Brocklers, who's joining me.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I just got a question, and I don't know I'm
gonna ask you.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Will you ask George about that stupid TikTok trend where
kids are putting their foot into your front door?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
What can you do as the homeowner? Do you know
what they're talking about?
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Basically, like these kids are knocking and then when people open,
they shove their foot into the door so you can't
close it. Now, if that's me, I'm gonna break somebody's
leg off closing that door on. This just never ceases
to amaze me how stupid kids can be.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Have you seen this at all?
Speaker 4 (12:06):
No?
Speaker 3 (12:07):
But my gut tells me once again for reasons we
talked about previously off air, and that is we are
a vigorous Second Amendment supporting county out here.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
I think that's a mistake and I think it's a risk.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
I'm not telling you that sticking your foot in the
door buys you some sort of gunplay. I'm just telling
you that's a reality down here that could happen.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Why would you ever take that risk?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
That act in and of itself is a trespass, right,
It's a non consensual entrance into that house, even if
it's just the foot. Now, we've done a lot to
water down our juvenile justice laws in a way that
I don't think makes us safer. But it's not like
they're nonexistent. It's not like we're just gonna hug it out.
You can be arrested, you can be brought in, and
then mom and dad are going to start throwing out
(12:51):
money towards attorneys to try to figure out a way
to keep you from ruining your life over a stupid joke.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
D George Bruckler, you've got your next campaign slogan, George Brockler,
We're not going to hug it out.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
I think that'll be it. The last question.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
I have for you, and it really has to do
with crime overall. And I kind of mentioned this earlier
in the show, the conversations about what's happening in Washington,
DC right now. To me, it is the most distressing
part of the entire conversation is that you have Washington, DC,
which last year was the most violent city in the country. Murders, carjackings,
(13:30):
violent crime, crimes against persons, crimes against property, most violent
city in the country. So you have the president bringing
the National Guard, and he says he's going to clean
things up. And the argument being made by people against
this is, hey, crime is down thirty percent.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
What are you doing?
Speaker 1 (13:47):
What are you worried about? Crime is down thirty percent?
So that means the seventy percent of crime that it's
still happening for some reason in some people's heads.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Is okay.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
And it's almost like we boiled the frog to make
us think that it is okay that seventy percent of
that crime is still going to exist as long as
it's down thirty percent up to this point. What's your
take on that? I mean, should people expect to feel
safe in their community?
Speaker 4 (14:14):
Oh? One hundred percent?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I mean, listen, government does way too much right now
at every level, but one of its core functions is
to protect the citizenry, right like public state, and for
the federal government at the national level to protect the country.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
That's the core competency.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
And when you're failing at that at the local level,
especially if you're a federal enclave like DC is, you
should expect someone to show up and do something. I
am taken as you are with the argument that, hey,
someone who has cancer throughout their body is told, hey,
your hand is cancer free. I mean so, I mean,
you know what I mean, you're looking for cancer free everywhere, right, Like,
(14:53):
this argument is nonsense. And now what we're starting to
hear is maybe they're cooking the books, right Like you're
starting to see these stories about maybe when they were
being called out on things that might have been classified
as violent crime or something else, they were classified as
I don't know, aggressive jaywalking. I don't know what they
were doing, but they were changing some of the numbers.
I don't think this could be replicated anywhere else because
(15:14):
I don't think the federal government has the ability to
deploy the National Guard and certainly not the title ten
federal troops anywhere else for this purpose.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
But in DC.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Look, when the violent crime capital of your country is
the capital of your country, it's.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Not a good look, correct, something that you got to tackle. Well.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
I actually think that a lot of people, I think
a lot of Democrats are very afraid that it is
going to work, because then it sort of dispels the
notion that nothing can be done right, that this is
just the price of living in a big city. Whenever
anything goes south, and I'm going to use Denver as
a perfect example of this.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
When I moved here.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I've only been here since twenty thirteen, but I feel
like I've seen the entire arc.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
I used to tell people how clean Denver was, how
friendly everybody was, how safe I felt in Denver. So
since then, in twelve years, I've kind of watched it
fall apart. And yet Mayor Michael Hancock said it, Mayor
Mike Johnston says it, Well, these are the same problems
they have in other big cities. I like to remind
them other big Democrat run cities, because I think that's
(16:13):
an important part.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Of this piece of the puzzle.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
But I, for one, am happier down on the twenty
third and doing what you're doing, and keep up the
good work, and let everybody in your office know. I
sure appreciate them coming to support the endeavor as well.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Oh they'll like to hear that thanks for having us
on to talk about it.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
And we're going to continue.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
To have cases that are going to be worth letting
folks know about so that they know not to come
down here if they're inclined to commit crimes.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
So if you're willing to talk about them, so are.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
We all right, George. That's George Brockler. We'll talk to
you again. Sue, my friend, see it all right, That
is George Brockler.
The Mandy Connell Podcast News
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.