Community Safety
Gordon’s top priority as District Attorney is to keep our community safe. His office works tirelessly to secure justice for victims and tackle violent crime head-on.
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This commitment includes addressing gun crimes, holding violent offenders accountable, and increasing resources to focus on prosecuting hate crimes, sexual assaults, and domestic violence. Gordon is also a leader in the fight against fentanyl: developing innovative methods to hold dealers of the poison accountable and fighting for the victims they have killed; while also directing those struggling with addiction to treatment and helping to invest millions of dollars into drug education and harm reduction efforts.
These strategies have already seen drug-related crime and overdoses decrease, and Gordon will be doubling down to ensure those in crisis have the support they need and the worst actors are held accountable.
Gordon has been trusted by the community and bi-partisan officials to get the job done for the people of Jackson and Larimer counties. Gordon’s vision for the future in violent crime prevention includes utilizing the office’s brand new Domestic Violence Team to target high-risk offenders, support victims, and enforce firearm restrictions for offenders. He is also continuing his advocacy at the Capital for laws that keep us safe in a changing world - working on upcoming bills focused on increasing victim services funding, protecting the community from electronic stalking, and expanding tools to keep our roadways safe from dangerous and impaired drivers. Gordon knows that prevention can be more powerful than prosecution, and he is dedicated to promoting education on gun safety, like our red flag laws and teaching our children about the dangers of fentanyl, so that we can save lives before a crime occurs.
Criminal Justice Reform
Gordon is a leader in reforming our criminal justice system, ensuring that social justice and criminal justice are not at odds. He created an adult diversion program to direct low-level, first-time offenders to community resources to address the root causes of crime without unnecessary incarceration and began restorative justice initiatives that work to repair harm and address the community’s needs. This approach aims to prevent repeat offenses by tackling the underlying causes of criminal behavior without saddling offenders with lifelong consequences that prevent them from contributing to the community. Gordon is excited to expand these successful programs so more community members can benefit.
Gordon also rewrote the district's officer use of force review policy in the wake of the assault on Karen Garner, ensuring more cases are independently reviewed by the District Attorney’s office to hold police officers accountable when they break the law. Our future needs to include ensuring we have well-trained police, expanded co-response programs, and law enforcement who earn and deserve the trust of the community.
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Gordon introduced diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training in the DA's office to combat bias.
He developed an innovative data review project to identify and mitigate disparities in the criminal justice system. Addressing historic inequities in the criminal justice system will be a continued component of Gordon’s second term, as there is much work left to be done.
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Additionally, Gordon worked to launch the 8th JD Competency Docket, designed to assist individuals with serious mental health challenges, a program that has become a national model. He is now focusing on bringing a Veterans Court to Larimer County in 2025, which will bring trauma-informed specialists to assist those in the criminal justice system who have served our country.
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Gordon knows that exercising compassion and addressing the root causes of crime will keep us safer and is committed to growing restorative justice opportunities, combating bias, and ensuring everyone gets a fair shake.
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As the top law enforcement agency in the Larimer and Jackson Counties, the District Attorney’s Office's ability to do its job and keep the community safe starts with building trust. Under Gordon’s leadership, the District Attorney’s Office has become a national leader in community engagement and transparency.
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​Gordon has engaged with civic groups and senior citizen centers, partnered with nonprofits, collaborated with cultural organizations, and engaged with immigrant communities, LGBTQ+ groups, and other historically marginalized communities. Gordon committed to and has provided annual updates to every town council and board in the district so that citizens and officials have a bigger voice. In 2022, Gordon developed the inaugural District Attorney Citizens’ Academy to engage with community members. The class was fully booked in its first three years and will return in 2025. Gordon also published the first-ever DA Annual Report in 2022, ushering in a new era of accountability. The 2022 and 2023 annual reports are available here: 8th JD Annual Reports. Gordon’s vision is for community members, including crime victims and those with lived experiences in the system, to have greater insight into the DA’s work and create a Citizen’s Advisory Board to provide feedback on the office’s work. Gordon knows that earning community trust will benefit the ability to support victims, secure convictions, serve historically marginalized communities, and seek just results.
Gordon also launched the DA Data Transparency Project in 2022, a nation-leading public-facing data initiative that allows the community to understand and analyze the DA’s work. This cutting-edge project will improve data-driven decision-making aimed at identifying inefficiencies and saving taxpayer dollars, addressing historic inequalities, and ensuring tailored outcomes that reduce recidivism - transforming an antiqued system into a model for what modern prosecution and public service can look like.
Transparency/Community Engagement:
Supporting Reproductive Rights
When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Gordon immediately stood up for what’s right, pledging not to prosecute women or doctors for reproductive healthcare choices. Gordon firmly believes that a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions must be protected at all costs. He understands that criminalizing these choices will also deter individuals from seeking help in an emergency or reporting a sexual assault - leaving victims unprotected and perpetrators walking the street.
At the heart of pursuing justice is ensuring the well-being and safety of everyone in our community. Gordon is dedicated to standing up for our community's values and fighting back against out-of-state actors who may try to infringe upon our freedoms in the coming years.
Gordon understands that the most pressing preventable crime we face is gun violence in our communities. As District Attorney, he has been instrumental in implementing and expanding our state’s red flag law, which helps prevent those in crisis from accessing firearms and de-escalates dangerous situations. He also developed restorative justice programs to educate juveniles on the impact of gun violence and collaborated with non-profits working to reduce suicides and strengthen background checks.
Gordon has stood up to advocate for pragmatic gun safety laws at the Capital, including successful legislation like safe gun storage in homes to keep firearms out of the hands of children and safe gun storage in vehicles to stem the tide of stolen firearms later used in violent crimes. In his next term, Gordon will continue his tireless efforts on gun safety and the safety of our schools and communities. Gordon is developing a new program to enforce laws already on the books that prohibit domestic violence offenders from possessing or purchasing firearms - reducing risks of violence to victims. He is also building education programs on current laws to empower our community to implement red flag petitions and comply with our critical safe storage laws. Finally, Gordon is targeting the growing threat of ghost guns - unserialized firearms that skirt our current rules - with stronger prosecution and advocacy for better regulations. Gordon believes that together, we can end gun violence.