A bill is going through our legislature right now, in the midst of grief from another shooting in Colorado, to let sex crimes slide, drug crimes go, property crimes pass, and auto theft happen for almost a million students in Colorado schools.

The legislation is touted as the handcuff bill, to stop the practice of handcuffing elementary school students. Sounds reasonable, right? Until you read the other 95% of the text, with the real zinger being this excerpt:

“The bill prohibits law enforcement officers from arresting students, or issuing a summons, ticket, or notice requiring the appearance of a student in court or at a police station for certain offenses and conduct. SENATE BILL 21-182.”

A school resource officer can not ticket or arrest a student who commits a long list of crimes. And they are biggies. Assault that doesn’t cause “too much” injury. Arson that doesn’t cause “too much” damage. Auto theft if the car isn’t worth “too much.”

Read that again, it’s shocking. And there’s more.

Harassment, disorderly conduct, theft, trespassing, criminal mischief, loitering, gambling, incidents related to alcohol, marijuana and obstructing a firefighter, EMS provider, or peace officer at school, or in a school vehicle, or at a school sanctioned event. They can NOT be ticketed or arrested by law enforcement.

Under this legislation, police would not be able to ticket or arrest a student that committed an assault in school like the one the Boulder King Soopers shooting suspect did in 2018.

Let that sink in, parents.

In response to questions about this, one of the bill’s sponsors, state Rep. Leslie Herod of Denver said, “No one should refer a child to law enforcement for normal youth behaviors.”

Since when is it NORMAL behavior for our youth to do terrible things at school? And what about the victims that are expected to stay in school with those hurting them? Knowing there are consequences for actions helps give pause to offenders, while providing confidence and security to the victims.

This bill hurts the ones we love the most — our children. Especially the most vulnerable kids in school. It fuels bullying of all students by letting offenders off the hook. And neutralizes the school officers tasked with keeping everyone safe.

What on earth are our political leaders doing?!!

When I was on the Governor’s School Safety and Youth in Crisis Committee a few years ago, we heard testimony from School Resource Officers all over the state. According to lots of expert testimony, they were by far the most effective asset to stop school shootings, to prevent student suicide, to track bad behavior and stop it from getting worse. The school leaders around the state were desperate to get them into their schools as there were only a couple hundred for a couple thousand schools.

I learned in that testimony that SRO’s typically have a really good relationship with the students and have a great read on issues as they develop. They care about the students and want to keep them out of legal trouble for the most part. The SRO’s I have met or heard testify are not interested in arresting a student unless absolutely necessary. They work closely with educators, and mental health workers trying to find ways to help the students stay out of trouble.

Deputy James Englert, an SRO at Arapahoe High School, likely saved many lives in 2013 by being in the school when Claire Davis was killed by a school shooter.

The CU Institute of Behavioral Science is one of the top research centers in the country on school safety. They believe the pipeline-to-prison reasoning for many of these policy shifts is mostly the product of inadequate or no training. It’s certainly not a reason to take away our protections.

And take away they will. These legislators are committed to take away the SRO’s ability to ticket or arrest the ones who hurt other students or teachers to help solve the problems in our schools. It makes no sense and should outrage parents.

And to turbocharge the craziness, our schools can’t refer various felonies to law enforcement unless they meet the very high standard of serious bodily injury.

Mr. Rogers famously said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers.’ ”

If you want to protect ALL students, especially the most vulnerable, why in the world would you take away the helpers?

We don’t stop criminal activity by being more lenient, that’s proven over and over. We stop it by putting more protections in place for our little ones, not removing them.

Heidi Ganahl is a businesswoman, entrepreneur, author and at-large member of the University of Colorado Board of Regents, to which she was elected as a Republican in 2016.