With a new proposal requiring at least 60 days in jail for auto theft, Aurora is poised to pass what may be the toughest response to crime in the state by passing an ordinance that imposes mandatory minimum sentences.

General Council member Dustin Zvonek presented his proposal Thursday to the city council’s safety committee, which he chairs, before it goes to the full council for discussion on June 27.

The current proposal includes a mandatory 60-day sentence for auto theft under the city’s current ordinance, up to 120 days for repeat offenders, enhanced penalties for theft of essential auto parts and a 10-day sentence. jail time for missing a court appearance.

Zvonek pitches proposal to city council amid concerns over rising car thefts, citing three-year data showing an 86% increase in known thefts in Colorado and a 236% increase in Aurora from 2019 to 2021 He said Colorado leads the United States in car thefts per capita.

“Aurora is #1 among #1s, and it’s not a place we want to be,” he said.

The proposal includes a provision to end the order in 2024 so the council can assess whether it has affected car thefts and either renew the changes or let them expire.

The mandatory jail term for failing to appear prompted Doug Wilson, Aurora’s municipal public defender, who said the proposal’s current wording doesn’t provide any exceptions for people who don’t intentionally miss a court date. and that it also makes it confusing whether the 10-day jail term applies to witnesses, victims, and law enforcement officers required to appear for a court date, as well as defendants. Wilson said the mandatory jail sentence entitles him to an attorney, which he says will lead to increased trials.

“It’s basically a detention without bail on someone in a case that hasn’t been solved, unless you charge it as a separate offence. And this restraint without obligation will not be constitutional under Colorado [Supreme Court] or the United States Supreme Court.

Zvonek said he would be open to revising this part of the proposal if necessary.

Wilson also criticized mandatory minimums more generally, saying they do not work as broad deterrents and confuse individual deterrence with general deterrence.

“Yeah, the guy is locked up, he’s not going to steal another car. And then there’s the general deterrence that if you lock someone up, the next one isn’t going to steal a car. And that’s part of the theory behind the minimum requirements. And there really isn’t any data to support the general deterrence theory when it comes to that,” the public defender said.

Pete Schulte, a city attorney, said he doesn’t necessarily disagree with Wilson’s arguments, but the rise in auto thefts in the city makes it urgent to try something to stem the problem. .

“Something has to give,” he said. “The purpose of the legislation is to make that known – do not steal cars in the city of Aurora.”

Council member Juan Marcano said he thinks resources would be better spent tackling the social and economic factors that can drive people to steal cars. While he did not disagree with the need for accountability, he also said he hoped council members could reach a compromise less severe than the mandatory 60 days in jail for first-time offenders.

But Marcano welcomed the proposal’s inclusion of a directive to create a fund to reimburse victims for impound fees and other costs when their cars are recovered.

“I completely agree that we really need to raise the voices of those who are victims of motor vehicle theft,” he said. “And I love the resolution part of it, including a fund basically to help people recover from being victimized.”