DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — During an exclusive sit-down interview with Denver7, District Attorney-elect George Brauchler outlined his priorities for the state’s newest judicial district, which includes a tough-on-crime approach.
It’s familiar territory for Brauchler, who was elected district attorney for the new 23rd Judicial District. He previously served two terms as DA of the 18th Judicial District.
The 18th Judicial District previously included Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties. Come Jan. 1, 2025, only Arapahoe County will be in the 18th, while Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties will make up the 23rd.
The 23rd Judicial District is the first new judicial district in Colorado since 1965.
Prior to his introductory press conference, Denver7’s Danielle Kreutter sat down with District Attorney-elect George Brauchler to talk about his plans for the 23rd Judicial District.
- Watch their full conversation or read the transcript below.
DA-elect for new 23rd Judicial District discusses his priorities with Denver7: Full interview
Danielle Kreutter: What made you interested in becoming the new district attorney?
DA-elect George Brauchler: It’s a great question. I’ve lived in Douglas County for close to 30 years now. Everything important in my life is down here. So when I ran for DA back in 2012 to be the DA for the 18th, it was with the idea that I feel like I can do some good for my family, for my neighbors, for the folks that do business down here. And I was right. But, you know, we’re the only state in America that has term limits for district attorneys, so two four-year terms later, I left [and] went into the civilian world, which I should tell you pays a lot better. [I] went into the civilian world, and then the legislature created this new judicial district, and I really saw this as an opportunity to make this community something that it has been but at a different level. We’re going to be the safest, bestest community to start a business or raise a family in the state of Colorado if not America.
Danielle Kreutter: What sort of changes or challenges do you foresee losing Arapahoe County?
DA-elect Brauchler: When the judicial district had Arapaho in it — now Arapahoe is going to remain [and] the 18th will become the new 23rd — there was a different focus, and that focus is driven by crime, not population. And so the crime that you can imagine occurring out of places like Aurora and in parts of Arapahoe County really dominated the focus of the office, despite our best efforts, despite the fact that I was the only district attorney ever in the 18th to have come from Douglas County. We don’t have that anymore. The downside of that is you lose a great need for a lot of the resources that you’d have to cover that kind of violent crime, but you get to take the resources that you do have — and we are well-resourced — and focus them on this community and its principles and values.
Danielle Kreutter: To that point, even comparing Douglas County to Elbert and Lincoln counties, it’s pretty different — population-wise, community-wise. What are the priorities for each of the counties? And how do you plan to combine all of those to represent them all well?
DA-elect Brauchler: Douglas County represents about 93% of the population of the new judicial district. Obviously, the majority of resources will be contributed and spent here because this is the place that will generate the most amount of work. Elbert County, state demographer says [it’s the] fastest growing county by population in the state of Colorado between now and about 2060 as a percentage of population. It has its own unique challenges. Some of those are resource-driven. We have the ability to augment the resources that they may not have to address all the crime that could generate over the next 48 years. And then Lincoln County, another phenomenal rural county. It has a pretty stagnant population. About 10 years ago, it was about 50,106. I think this last census, it was 50,113, something like that. But they have unique challenges, too, because they have a prison, and the district attorney’s office is responsible for prosecuting all the crime that grows out of a state prison. They also have I-70. I-70 is a corridor for human trafficking, for drugs, all sorts of things. So the challenge for us will be how can we take all the benefits of being in a well-resourced county and spread them in a way that provides a similar amount of service for the unique challenges of the other two.
Danielle Kreutter: Personally, what are your priorities?
DA-elect Brauchler: We’ve all lived in Colorado for some period of time now. We’ve all seen it change. It’s not the same state that it was when I walked around the streets of Lakewood going to and from school. We are number four in the country for motor vehicle theft. We’re number four in our crime rate for combined property and violent crime. We’re number eight stand alone in just violent crime. That’s not acceptable to the people in this community. And there are other places out there, and you know them — hell, you may even live there — that are far more permissive and forgiving of crime and criminals. That’s just not this place, and it’s not going to be this place. So my focus is to make sure that people understand when they live here, they’ll be protected by the law. And if they show up here and they come here to move, to have their kids get a great education, to start a business, you get all the benefits of a world-class law enforcement partnership. But if you come down here to victimize us, if you come down here to steal from us, you should expect to be incarcerated. Our message will be different than those around us.
Danielle Kreutter: Given that your focus doesn’t need to be spread between Arapaho and these other districts, but now that you just have these communities, what certain types of crimes, if you can answer that question, do you see being able to focus a little bit better on now?
DA-elect Brauchler: Listen, if the takeaway from this press conference, this interview, ends up being thieves go to jail, I can live with that. And I don’t care if it’s car theft, if it’s shoplifting, organized retail theft, burglary of a business, burglary of a home, or anything else. If you come down here and steal from us, we’re not going to write you a summons. We’re not going to send you back home. We’re going to grab you up and take you to jail, and you are going to get world-class service inside a courtroom, but your expectation should be incarceration. The other piece I really want to emphasize is that we love law enforcement out here. This is a community that supports law enforcement, not just with its tax dollars but with its vote. If you look over the last two election cycles, the highest vote-getters on any ballot — that includes the president and Congress — are your three sheriffs and the elected district attorney. That says something. And so the way we’re going to honor that value is if you run from the cops, they’re going to catch you. And when they do, you should expect to be incarcerated. If you fight with our cops or try to harm them, you should expect to be incarcerated. In fact, if you hurt our cops, you should expect to see this guy in the courtroom sitting at the table across from you, trying to lock you up.
Danielle Kreutter: One of the topics that us journalists have been covering and talking to DAs a lot over the last few years is about fentanyl arrests… As laws have changed, there’s a new tool district attorneys can use to prosecute fentanyl crimes. As you’ve seen that play out, how do you expect that to impact the work being done in the 23rd?
DA-elect Brauchler: Fentanyl is always going to be a focus because of just how deadly it is. This wasn’t a thing when I was a young prosecutor. I’ve only been doing this about 29 years now, but even up until the end of my time in office at the 18th, fentanyl just wasn’t a thing. And now it is the thing. What I don’t want to do is lose sight of the fact that we are seeing a resurgence in other areas of drugs, including heroin and methamphetamine and cocaine use. So we’re not going to take our eye off the ball. Fentanyl is the big killer out there on the streets, and we’re going to tackle that aggressively, but we’re not taking our eye off the ball when it comes to drugs. I have a very different philosophical view when it comes to addicts. Those are people that the system can help give incentive to to get themselves into the rehabilitation and avail themselves to the resources that this jurisdiction has to get better. But if you’re a drug dealer, don’t come here looking for mercy. If you’re out there peddling this poison on our streets, your expectation should be less than merciful.
Danielle Kreutter: Another topic we’ve been talking a lot about is immigration, and obviously the Town of Castle Rock and Douglas County, they have come out with some pretty strong messages about immigration laws and how they think they should be enforced in these communities. Does that impact the work being done in the 23rd?
DA-elect Brauchler: Indirectly at best. I mean, listen, this is such a fair question given everything that’s going on right now in Aurora and up in Denver, the issues with tens of thousands of immigrants — legal or otherwise — pouring into the community. And I’ve heard the president make some comments, too. But the bottom line is this — the district attorney is a locally elected state official. I don’t work for the federal government. I don’t bend a knee to the federal government. I’m not here to enforce immigration law, but — there’s always a big but — but I’m also not going to treat people that are here with immigration issues any different or better than the citizens of this community. Not going to do it. Now, this isn’t the DA talking. This is just a normal, common-sense approach. My advice to people that are down here is if you’re undocumented, get documented. If you choose not to get documented, be on your bestest behavior because when you run afoul of the law, do not come to me with an attorney or without and expect me to save you from the consequences of your illegal conduct. So I’m not here to enforce immigration law, but this is not a favorable place for people that want to violate our laws.
Danielle Kreutter: We talked a little bit about how the creation of this new district may change what happens in this new judicial district. Do you think there’s any sort of impact that this — the creation of this new district, and you representing it — may have on the state, whether that’s the [Colorado Attorney General’s Office] or, you know, state legislators?
DA-elect Brauchler: I’m as frustrated as anybody else in law enforcement with the left-leaning surge that we’ve seen at the Capitol under the gold dome. I have said this now every year since I took office in 2013. This is the most offender-friendly legislature Colorado has ever ever seen. And every year, they prove me right again. It’s almost like they start the session by saying, ‘You thought that was crazy? Hold my beer.’ Or, I guess in Colorado, ‘Hold my bong, and let’s see what we can do now.’ I don’t expect that to change. If law-abiding folks want the legislature to pass laws that empower law enforcement and protect them better, they need to change out who they’re sending to the gold dome. Having said that, I’m stuck with the tools that they give me and the ones that they take away. When it comes to the other aspects of what impact our decisions can make on the metro area, my great hope is this — because we’re going to do things differently, because we’re going to take maybe it’s a page out of the past but it really is with a focus on right now, if we can prove that this approach works, an approach that is going to be about faster resolutions with more predictable, certain consequences, and those consequences including incarceration — and I’m not talking about throwing away the key on someone who steals a candy bar — then maybe we can become a model for the rest of the state to look at and say, ‘Look what works.’ But I’m also open to the idea that maybe it won’t. And if it won’t, I’m happy to change my approach on this.
Danielle Kreutter: We were talking right before you sat down about staffing. What would be the staffing for the new judicial district?
DA-elect Brauchler: We’re going to launch with about 100 full-time employees. That includes 40 prosecutors, this guy included, and then about 60 support staff spread out over the three counties. The bulk of them, obviously, [will be] here in Castle Rock. Of those other 60, I’d say 10% or slightly more than that will be investigators. They’ll be like the police that work for the district attorney’s office. And the rest will cover everything from juvenile diversion programs through paralegals, support staff, IT and all that stuff.
Danielle Kreutter: Is there anything else you want to add that I didn’t ask or any message to the community?
DA-elect Brauchler: You know what I want this community to take away from this is I treat their vote and the honor they bestowed upon me seriously. Selfishly, I want my family to live in the safest county in America, and I’m going to do everything I can to get there. But the other thing they ought to know is, and what will be, I think, unique in terms of what you’re going to see this afternoon, is there’s never been an event like this before. Normally, when you see this kind of a group of people get together from every level of government — and I mean local, up to federal, law enforcement to policymakers — it’s usually in response to some great tragedy. This is not. This is in response to a great opportunity. And so as these folks go around the county, what I want them to feel is a sense of these guys got my back, and these guys are going to protect me, and they’re going to protect my kids, and they’re going to protect my property, and that’s what they should expect. I will tell you, the other side of this coin is they should also expect a greater likelihood that they’ll be summoned in for jury service because we’re not goofing around anymore. We’re going to keep moving forward. And sometimes people don’t like it, and they want to have their trial, and they’re constitutionally entitled, and we’re going to give it to them, but that means we may have more juries.
