Has the pendulum swung too far in the name of justice reform?

Most Denverites would say yes. What’s noteworthy is when a leader of the progressive political establishment agrees. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston did just that last week on KOA radio. He even called for more cops on the streets.

“I think, frankly, there are places where … we’ve overreacted on wanting to protect against over-enforcement or over-incarceration,” Johnston told Gazette columnist Jimmy Sengenberger on KOA’s “Ross Kaminsky on the News with Jeana Gondek” on Friday.

That’s hardly a newsmaker in a lot of cities. But it’s arguably a breakthrough moment coming from the chief exec of a City Hall that has been all too soft on crime for years. That goes all the more for the state legislature just down the street from Denver City Council chambers.

While Johnston said there are “lots of good policies we know prevent over incarceration, particularly people of color,” he emphasized “the best policy is putting more officers on the street” as a crime-prevention tool.

“That’s what we’ve been focusing on here in Denver,” Johnston added, “and that’s really made a difference because everyone wants to see more officers there to be able to help prevent crimes.”

It’s common sense, of course. More cops on the street means more manpower to investigate crimes and deter them in the first place.

Johnston recently helped lead the charge to retain crucial license-plate reading cameras on Denver’s streets, noting every American city with a population over 500,000 has a such a camera system.

The state-of-the-art surveillance technology from Axon offers a breakthrough in nabbing lawbreakers. Denver’s previous Flock system aided a significant decline in auto thefts, which dropped from over 12,000 in 2023 to 8,550. Police made nearly 300 arrests and recovered 170 vehicles and 29 firearms.

The mayor gets that Axon cameras are a no-brainer for promoting public safety — especially since criminals routinely use stolen vehicles to commit more serious crimes, such as drug crimes and armed robbery.

If only Johnston would pitch his support for more law and order at the State Capitol, where ruling Democrats systematically have been dismantling the rule of law and replacing it with “justice reform.”

Exhibit A is House Bill 26-1281. It would abolish first-degree murder for those who kill a single victim. If it becomes law, murder in the first degree would generally require a murderer to take at least two lives — exempting even, say, an attempted mass murderer attacking a school who ultimately takes no more than one life.

As Padraic Emerine of the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police put it, this isn’t just soft on crime. “It is extreme.”

At least, Johnston didn’t mince words for radio listeners about the excesses of the justice reform movement.

“I think people that believe that what the public wants right now is massive reductions in accountability for folks that are breaking the law — I think they’re out of touch with where the public is,” Johnston said during the interview. “That is not what folks want.”

“They want to see the law enforced. They want to know that they feel safe in their city, and that means, I think, more officers and more accountability,” Johnston added. “So, that’s where I am, and that’s where I think most residents of Denver are.”

Agreed. Let’s hope that wisdom spreads at Denver City Hall — and beyond.