Speaker 1: The brand new district attorney, just like a previous district
Speaker 1: attorney somewhere else. It's George Brockler of the twenty third
Speaker 1: Judicial District. George, what's it like to be back in
Speaker 1: the saddle as a prosecuting attorney?
Speaker 2: Again, Well, it's a saddle that needs to be broken in,
Speaker 2: so there's some predictable chafing. Otherwise that it's great.
Speaker 1: You know, not many people use the word chafing on
Speaker 1: the show, So well done for breaking that barrier, just
Speaker 1: just tossing it right aside. So this is a brand
Speaker 1: new judicial district and one that I know has been
Speaker 1: needed for a long time because of the growth of
Speaker 1: the area. What's it like being able to build an
Speaker 1: office from the ground up?
Speaker 2: What a great opportunity, but also a little bit daunting too.
Speaker 2: I mean, like we're still figuring out things like do
Speaker 2: all the computers work? And where did the phone numbers go?
Speaker 2: And what's the shortest way to the bathroom? I mean
Speaker 2: we're still doing stuff like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, at the same time trying to manage a caseload
Speaker 2: that is not insignificant. I'll give you an example. And
Speaker 2: when I get off the phone with you, I'm going
Speaker 2: to walk down the hall and participate in the sentencing
Speaker 2: for the very first murder sentencing in the history of
Speaker 2: this jurisdiction. So we have a great team. The county
Speaker 2: commissioners out here in Lincoln, Albert and Douglas have been
Speaker 2: so wonderfully supportive. They are pro public safety, pro law enforcement,
Speaker 2: pro justice. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but
Speaker 2: it's what sets them apart from the rest of the
Speaker 2: metro area.
Speaker 1: Isn't that sad? I mean, isn't that sad? George? I
Speaker 1: have a story on the blog to now now you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've ever seen my blog at
Speaker 1: mandy'sblog dot com, but it is magic every single day.
Speaker 1: And I actually put a crime story, just a little
Speaker 1: throwaway crime story, because two shoplifters were arrested from Park
Speaker 1: Meadows Mall and I said, that's Douglas County. That's why
Speaker 1: they got arrested. Me, you know, that's why they got arrested.
Speaker 1: So it's nice. I live in this in this judicial district.
Speaker 1: I live with a great sheriff. I live with people
Speaker 1: who care about law and order, And to your point,
Speaker 1: it is disappointing that other municipality buies don't have that
Speaker 1: same support, and the law enforcement officers don't have that
Speaker 1: same support. Because go ahead, I was going to say
Speaker 1: a couple things about that.
Speaker 2: That shoplifter one the very first felony that occurred. That
Speaker 2: the arrest occurred after I was sworn in, and it
Speaker 2: was happening while the swearing in was going on. That's
Speaker 2: one for which there we had done a press release,
Speaker 2: but it was out a Parker and it's similar, and
Speaker 2: that these aren't just people who are thieves. These are
Speaker 2: people who we pursued. And that's the difference too. There
Speaker 2: you see a lot of videos out there of people
Speaker 2: watching folks push shopping carts full of stolen goods out
Speaker 2: into the parking lot and nothing really seems to happen,
Speaker 2: not down here. And the part that you bring up, Manny,
Speaker 2: that's so important is this, had I had this message,
Speaker 2: this if you come down here to victimize us, prepared
Speaker 2: to be incarcerated kind of a thing. If I had
Speaker 2: had that message fifteen years ago, twenty years ago in
Speaker 2: this game, it would have been a total yawn fest
Speaker 2: because everyone would go, that's right, I mean, yep, isn't that.
Speaker 1: What you do? That's your job.
Speaker 2: We've seen such a change and it's like the DA's
Speaker 2: offices have become these social support networks instead of law enforcers,
Speaker 2: where we're supposed to fix all of society's ills mental illness,
Speaker 2: drug addiction, broken families. And I think at some point
Speaker 2: we need to have a readjustment and say no, that's
Speaker 2: a different part of government, that's a different part of
Speaker 2: the community. That's not our business. Our business is to
Speaker 2: maintain safety, prevent and protect victims, and to hold people
Speaker 2: accountable who just can't bring themselves to follow the damn law.
Speaker 1: And you know what, George, nothing you just said, in
Speaker 1: my mind is controversial. And I'm not asking you to
Speaker 1: comment on other das. But DA Beth McCann leaves Denver
Speaker 1: and she kind of broke this glowing review of everything
Speaker 1: she was proud of. And I'm thinking to myself, if
Speaker 1: I'm in charge of prosecuting crime and the crime rates
Speaker 1: have done what they have done in Denver under my tutelage,
Speaker 1: under my leadership, I would be walking out with my
Speaker 1: head hanging in shame. So to hear you talk about
Speaker 1: the fact that you understand your job is to hold
Speaker 1: criminals accountable. It is. It shouldn't be strange. But I'm
Speaker 1: sure there's people listening in Denver that thinks you sound
Speaker 1: like some kind of maniac.
Speaker 2: You know, it's not just the da thing. And again, Beth,
Speaker 2: I'm sure was committed to what she thought was the
Speaker 2: right path for her community, and because they continued to
Speaker 2: re elect her, maybe she was right. You know. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but think about this. Those horrible stabbings that took place
Speaker 2: this weekend where two are dead and two more seriously injured.
Speaker 2: Those took place two days after the governor of our
Speaker 2: state in his state of the state identified only three crimes. Specifically,
Speaker 2: they were wage theft, cattle rustling, and wildlife trafficking. That's
Speaker 2: not what plagues the Metro area.
Speaker 1: Cattle rustling.
Speaker 2: Really, Oh yeah, let go back and take a look
Speaker 2: at it. It's bizarre of the things to identify that
Speaker 2: we need to tackle with crime. Cattle rustling? Is it
Speaker 2: the top fifty? Was this because the National Western stocksties
Speaker 2: in town?
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know, maybe he's pulling bad with
Speaker 1: you know, ranchers maybe, you know, because they're all mad
Speaker 1: at him for everything he's done to them. But they're
Speaker 1: supposed to feel better now those are going after cattle.
Speaker 1: I mean, what year is it, George? What are we
Speaker 1: gonna look out for gunfights at the OK Corral at
Speaker 1: the same time. And don't get me wrong, I know
Speaker 1: cattle gets stolen. I know that this is an actual crime.
Speaker 1: But to your point, is it the most important crime
Speaker 1: or should we were worrying about mentally all homeless people
Speaker 1: slashing the flight attendant's throats in the sixteenth Street mall instead?
Speaker 2: And if you're gonna try to make up for that
Speaker 2: ridiculous I'm an impossible meat lover thing that he did,
Speaker 2: Yeah a few years ago. Maybe ask the ranchers, would
Speaker 2: you prefer us to tackle cattle rustling or the wolves
Speaker 2: who are eating the cattle? I mean, give them a choice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, George, I live in Douglas County and
Speaker 1: I'm very familiar with the area. And a lot of
Speaker 1: people would say, are you going to be bored in
Speaker 1: this office because you kind of think of the suburbs area,
Speaker 1: the rural parts that you're covering, as well as not
Speaker 1: necessarily being a hotbed of criminality. But how does this
Speaker 1: compare to your prior post.
Speaker 2: It's different, and it's different in this way, you know
Speaker 2: where Rappa Hoe County represented two thirds of the population
Speaker 2: of a one point one million population jurisdiction, but half
Speaker 2: of a rapa Hoe County's population is Aurora. And Aurora
Speaker 2: the third most populous city in the state. But there's
Speaker 2: a reason that has the second largest police department, and
Speaker 2: that is, for better or for worse, it generates violent
Speaker 2: crime and other crimes. And so I think we calculated
Speaker 2: before the split about seventy percent of all the felonies
Speaker 2: the jurisdiction prosecuted came out of a Rapahoe County. Sixty
Speaker 2: percent of the total came out of Aurora itself. Wow,
Speaker 2: So we are naturally going to be able to now
Speaker 2: focus on those other crimes that you have to prioritize
Speaker 2: down the list when you have truckloads full of violent crimes.
Speaker 2: Get me wrong, we have some down here. But now
Speaker 2: we're able to try to stem the tide at an
Speaker 2: earlier level. And I'm a believer in this, if we
Speaker 2: send the message loud and clear, early and often and
Speaker 2: consistently that if you come down here to break the
Speaker 2: law and victimizes, you'll be held accountable. I think we
Speaker 2: don't get all that violent crime that Aurora and a
Speaker 2: rapa Hoe and Denver and Adams have had.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you saw the mayor, Mayor Mike
Speaker 1: Johnston's press conference after the murders this past weekend where
Speaker 1: he spent eight seconds and that's not an exaggeration giving
Speaker 1: condolences to the families the victims, before he launched into
Speaker 1: a pr campaign about how much Denver has improved. And
Speaker 1: the real problem is is we're just not giving it
Speaker 1: the chance because we've got a misperception of what's going
Speaker 1: on now. If what he had said was what you
Speaker 1: just said, it would be a completely different situation in Denver.
Speaker 1: If he had come out and said exactly what you said,
Speaker 1: We're done. We're going to prosecute you. If you break
Speaker 1: the law, We're going to prosecute quality of lime, quality
Speaker 1: of life crimes. I mean, it's like we're operating in
Speaker 1: two different planets. It truly is, George.
Speaker 2: There's an awesome video that the Parker PD put out
Speaker 2: right before the swearing in, and it was a guy
Speaker 2: his faces blurred out. Of course, he's presumed innocent. We
Speaker 2: don't know who he is, but it's Parker PD ushering
Speaker 2: this guy into the back of a patrol car over
Speaker 2: the theft of a couple stolen phones. And he's a
Speaker 2: gast and he said, this is on social media. You
Speaker 2: might play this thing. And he says, this is a ridiculous,
Speaker 2: this is a joke. You're ruining my Friday night. He said,
Speaker 2: this isn't even a thing in Denver. And you can
Speaker 2: hear the cop go, yeah, well you're down here in
Speaker 2: Parker and he goes, this is why I.
Speaker 1: Don't come to Douglass County.
Speaker 2: And I told the chief we need more of these,
Speaker 2: we need we need a whole YouTube channel just dedicated
Speaker 2: to this.
Speaker 1: Wow, I'm finding that right now. So I'm going to
Speaker 1: find that and at.
Speaker 2: Uh PD look for I think it's on the Parker
Speaker 2: PD twitter.
Speaker 1: Thing, so I will look for that on the Facebook.
Speaker 2: But oh man, it's good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean they they I will make sure we
Speaker 1: get that. But that's actually that. It makes me incredibly happy.
Speaker 1: It makes me incredibly happy that people will think twice
Speaker 1: about coming to Douglas County. How much of the issues
Speaker 1: that we're seeing in Aurora in terms of gang activity
Speaker 1: have you? Are you aware of that making its way
Speaker 1: into Douglas County at all?
Speaker 2: Yep. Yeah. In fact, you know, if you talk to
Speaker 2: Shrip Darren weekly, I mean, he's just the best at
Speaker 2: what he does. They shortly after that story started getting
Speaker 2: the attention it deserved. About a year earlier, they busted
Speaker 2: up a Venezuelan coordinated effort to steal a whole bunch
Speaker 2: of cars down here. And we're going to start keep
Speaker 2: mapping the crime that we end up catching and resolving
Speaker 2: down here. Shock no one, Because I did this in
Speaker 2: a test case about a year ago. It should shock
Speaker 2: no one that the home of origin for many, many
Speaker 2: of our criminals is not here. It is Aurora, and
Speaker 2: it is Denver. And that's what we got to stop.
Speaker 1: Okay, George Brockler, if you could, and before we go,
Speaker 1: how would you describe your judicial philosophy?
Speaker 2: Maybe this didn't come out in this interview, but I'll
Speaker 2: say this. Look, I'm a Christian guy. I'm not good
Speaker 2: at it. I'm constantly trying to improve, But I believe
Speaker 2: in redemption. I truly believe in redemption. But there cannot
Speaker 2: be redemption without accountability. And for us down here, our
Speaker 2: job is to try to change behavior. One. We'd love
Speaker 2: you to never break the law. That's our first and
Speaker 2: best goal. But if you are hell bent on breaking
Speaker 2: the law, our next best goal is to discourage you
Speaker 2: from doing it down here. And our third goal is
Speaker 2: if you come down here to do it, We're going
Speaker 2: to give you reason to never do it again.
Speaker 1: I love that. George Brockler, the new DA of the
Speaker 1: third Judicial District. I'm super happy. I just we're about
Speaker 1: to see a real time experiment, in real life unfolding
Speaker 1: of what it looks like when an entire group of leadership,
Speaker 1: whether it's the Douglas County Commission, whether it's law enforcement agencies,
Speaker 1: whether it's the twenty third Judicial District, when they all
Speaker 1: work together to fight crime next to areas that simply
Speaker 1: don't follow that same standard. And I'm I'm here for
Speaker 1: it because I know which side of the line I'm
Speaker 1: living on. And I'm pretty happy about that. George. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you making time for me today.
Speaker 2: I just texted you the link to that stage.
Speaker 1: Oh perfect, Thank you, sir, Thank you sir. We'll play that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no problem, and I'll talk to you again soon, George,
Speaker 1: I appreciate that very much. We will. Yeah, golly,