Four years after a frenzy to define police departments nationwide, Colorado voters approved an election referendum that allocated $350 million from the state budget for the recruitment, training and retention of law enforcement officers.

Proposition 130, which was passed with just under 53% of the voteswill not raise taxes on residents. Instead, funding for the initiative will be drawn from other public services from the state’s general fund.

Win for state police departments it comes after the cities of Aurora and Colorado Springs saw record homicides in 2022, Denver has seen homicide rates double in the past decade and block takeovers by the Tren de Aragua Venezuelan prison gang in Aurora. made national headlines.

“(Proposition) 130 is a huge comeback in Colorado after the repeal of the police movement,” Aurora City Council member Danielle Jurinsky, who has previously spoken out about migrant gangs in her city, told Fox News Digital.

“We’re bringing the blue back to Colorado!”

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Colorado voters approved a referendum that allocated $350 million from the state budget for the recruitment, training and retention of law enforcement officers. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Joe Gamaldi, national vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police, told Fox News Digital that the funding is “a really positive step to show law enforcement that they are supported. that they will be funded and then have the resources to do their job. It’s such a big step because it really shows where the public is for law enforcement in Colorado.”

criticized Gamaldi Denver’s decision earlier this year to cut $8 million in spending from his police department to help fund programs for the growing number of migrants arriving in the city.

“And this is in Denver, where the homicide rate has more than doubled in the last 10 years,” he said.

Fox News Digital could not reach Denver Mayor Michael Johnston’s office for comment by press time.

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Alleged members of the Tren de Aragua gang are taking over an apartment building in Aurora, Colorado, charging rent in exchange for “protection.” (Edward Romero)

Critics of the funding initiative have expressed concern that money taken from the general fund will eliminate funding for other public services, with Kyle Giddings at the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. saying CPR that the dollar amount is equivalent to “6,000 teacher salaries” and “the entire affordable housing (program) budget.”

However, Gamaldi told Fox News Digital that “nothing in our communities works unless we have a basic platform of public safety.”

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Boulder police officers stand at attention during a memorial for slain Boulder police officer Eric Talley on March 22, 2022 in Boulder, Colorado. Officer Talley was killed in a shooting at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colo., a year ago that left 10 dead. (Photo by Chet Strange/Getty Images)

“We can’t have good schools if they’re not safe. Businesses can’t thrive if they’re not safe,” Gamaldi said. “It all starts with public safety, and that’s where the investment must come first. And make no mistake, we are hemorrhaging police officers nationally – we have record retirements, record resignations with a 45% increase in resignations nationally.

“So this funding is needed not only to recruit the next generation of officers, but also to retain the experience we have now. If we don’t make an investment in the law enforcement professionals we have now, I mean, we could lose this whole thing for an entire generation… Obviously, it’s a lot of money, but it’s definitely needed right now and it really is needed now more than ever.”

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Ten members of the Tren de Aragua transnational gang have been arrested in Aurora, Colorado, in connection with “committing acts of violence against members of the migrant community.” (Aurora Police Department)

Alex Rose, public information officer for the Wheat Ridge Police Department, a city near Denver, told Fox News Digital that while the funding has not yet been allocated and they are not sure if their department will be the recipient, they would be a useful tool to “make sure that we incentivize our officers and (that) our good police officers develop their careers here and stay here for the long term.”

“I think when you zoom out and look at that big picture, the pendulum swings back to supporting law enforcement here in Colorado,” Rose said. “It’s great to see our citizens support law enforcement in the state.”

Although the Wheat Ridge Police Department currently has a sufficient number of officers, Rose said the additional funding will help them establish “that this is a great department to start your career and … demonstrate that it is a excellent to finish your career”.

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Aurora, Colorado, which has a population of about 390,000, has become the home base of the Tren de Aragua gang, officials said. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

“It’s an increasingly difficult job,” Rose said of police work. “The people who dress up every day and continue to keep Wheat Ridge one of the safest communities in Colorado deserve to work for a department that is willing to make it a great place to work.”

Proposition 130 was one of several enforcement-oriented measures on the ballot. Coloradoans also voted to approve Proposition 128, which would require people convicted of violent crimes to serve 85 percent of their sentences before becoming eligible for parole.

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Colorado voters also restored the ability of state judges to revoke bail for defendants charged with first-degree murder. When the state’s general assembly abolished the state’s death penalty in 2020, it also removed an exception to the requirements bail on first degree murder charges.

Now, judges can once again deny bail in these cases “when the evidence is clear or the presumption is strong that the person committed the crime,” according to the constitutional amendment.

“It’s no hidden secret that Colorado’s electorate continues to lean left — it’s one of the few states that voted more Democratic (in the 2024 election) than it did in 2020,” Rose told Fox News Digital. “But just because a state leans more to the left doesn’t mean it leans more toward enforcing the law and keeping its communities safe.”