People to Watch 2024: Brian Mason, the People's DA

Up for reelection in 2024, 17th Judicial District Attorney Brian Mason plans to keep going for "the big fish" in Adams and Broomfield counties during his next year in office — but it's not just criminals he's after.

"The things that we are working on are issues that are impacting the entire state," Mason says. "That includes fentanyl, that includes motor vehicle theft, that includes juvenile violent crime, that includes the mental health crisis. These are all things that we are working on, earnestly and proactively."

Since taking over as DA in 2021, Mason and his team have earned praise for bringing vehicular manslaughter suspects to justice and for the office's support efforts for victims, most recently by Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Busting crime rings and drug traffickers has also been a major point of emphasis, along with helping people affected by domestic violence and bringing their tormentors to justice.

"I said to my team when I took office, I want to go after the big problems and I want to make transformative changes where we can," Mason recalls. "And we're doing that in the realm of domestic violence; we're doing that in the world of drug trafficking. We've seen the indictment of a major drug trafficking ring recently. ... I'm super proud of the work that we put into landing that indictment. It is an example of us going after the big fish, the big dealers, the people who are most responsible for distributing these poisons [fentanyl] into our community. Same with motor vehicle theft and same with human trafficking."

His next big step: finally completing a long-term goal to create a Family Justice Center in Adams County, which is home to Brighton, Commerce City, Federal Heights, Northglenn and Thornton, and also covers portions of Arvada, Bennett, Aurora, Lochbuie and Westminster. The unincorporated communities of Henderson, Strasburg and Watkins are also covered by Mason's office. "One of my goals, one of my big goals for my next term — if the voters choose to give me another term — is to bring a Family Justice Center to my jurisdiction," he says. "A Family Justice Center is a wonderful model for serving victims of domestic violence, human trafficking and sexual assault. It is a one-stop shop, for lack of a better phrase, for victims of these crimes to come to and receive every service that they need in one place. We have found that victims of domestic violence often don't want to cooperate with a criminal prosecution or law enforcement because they don't have family law services to get a divorce or to sort out child custody or to sort out immigration issues. And so they go back to their abusers and continue to be abused and be in harm's way. And sometimes children are in harm's way because of factors outside their control. A Family Justice Center tries to address all of those in one place."

Another major focus for 2024 will be juvenile violent crime and ensuring that youths in the 17th District are safe. "We're about to open up a youth shelter in Adams County," he says. "And that's, again, somewhat outside the lane of a traditional district attorney, but something I really felt needed my efforts in order to keep the community safe and make our system better."

Heading into the new year, Mason says he is "challenging the legislature to reconsider" Colorado's juvenile bed cap limit for how many young people are permitted to be held in custody after they've committed a crime.

"In my jurisdiction, we are capped at seventeen beds. That's it," Mason says. "We have more than seventeen violent juveniles in Adams and Broomfield counties. And so my team, on a weekly basis, and sometimes on a daily basis, has to meet and discuss which least violent juvenile to release in order to clear out a new bed to open up — a new bed for the juveniles who committed a homicide the night before. And this is just not good public policy, and it's making our community less safe."

Mason adds, "I don't take any joy in locking anybody up, adult or juvenile — particularly juveniles. I am a proud Democrat; I believe in helping people and lifting people up. But I also believe in keeping my community safe. And we cannot keep this community safe if we don't have a place to put violent youth."

Other People to Watch in 2024:

Dede de Percin, CEO of Colorado Village Collaborative
JR Payne, Head Coach of CU Women's Basketball
Thoa and An Nguyen, Chefs Doing It Their Way
Andrea Gibson, Colorado's New Poet Laureate
Mario Nocifera and Robert Champion, Nightlife Kings
Joshua Kappel, Psychedelics Policy Advisor
Tim Hernandez, Colorado Capitol's New Firebrand