April 14,2018-
City backs new state ballot measure
The California Police Chief’s Association is proposing a state-wide initiative that would help address some of the problems that have resulted from the passage of recent ballot measures, particularly Prop 47 and 57, that they believe have negatively impacted the safety of California citizens.
Locally,Visalia Police Chief Jason Salazar is in support of this measure and is asking the City Council to adopt a resolution. The intent is for this measure to be on the ballot for the November, 2018 General Election.
Last week the Visalia City Council said they will support the initiative by a 5 to 0 vote.
Visalia Mayor Warren Gubler says he thinks “Sacramento went too far” when they pushed to allow more early prison releases to help ease overcrowding.
“It seems like it just ended up increasing homelessness even as it tied the hands of law enforcement.”
A city staff report says this ballot measure would better define violent crime by expanding the list of violent crimes for which early release is not an option to include the following crimes: rape of an unconscious person, trafficking a child for sex, assault of a peace officer, felony domestic violence and other similar crimes that are not currently classified as “violent felonies”.
The measure would also reinstate DNA collection for certain crimes that were reduced to misdemeanors through Prop 47.
It would also revise the theft threshold by adding a felony for serial theft – when a person is caught for the third time stealing with a value of $250. Theft has increased by 12% to 25%, with losses of a billion dollars since Prop. 47 was passed and the dollar threshold for theft was increased from $450 to $950. This has a direct impact on large and small businesses who have seen increases in shoplifting as a result of Prop. 47’s increase in the theft threshold and elimination of a felony charge for petty theft with priors.
The initiative would require the Board of Parole Hearings to consider an inmate’s entire criminal history when deciding parole, not just this most recent commitment offense, and requires a mandatory hearing to determine whether parole should be revoked for any parolee who violates the terms of his parole for the third time. Public Safety now finds that parolees who repeatedly violate the terms of their parole currently face few consequences.
Jurisdictions throughout the State of California have seen direct impacts from the passage of these criminal justice reforms in their communities, primarily measured through Part 1 Crime.
Visalia has seen Part-1 Crime increases (homicide, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny, and auto theft) that are attributed directly to the passage of Prop 47 in November 2014.
Here are the numbers.
From 2007 to 2014, Part-1 Property Crimes had decreased by 27%, Part 1 Violent Crimes had decreased by 11%, and Visalia’s total Part 1 Crimes had decreased by 23%.
But after passage of Prop 47, from 2014 to 2017, Visalia’s Part-1 Property Crimes have increased 16%, Part 1 Violent Crimes have continued to decrease another 12%, and Visalia’s total Part 1 Crimes have increased by 7%.
Visalia’s 2017 Part-1 Crime statistics still show overall decreases in Property Crimes of 15%, Violent Crimes of 21.5%, and overall 17% from 2007 statistics.
However, the changes brought on by Prop 47 in late 2014 have certainly had an impact. Larceny has shown the most significant increase at 20%, burglary at 7%, and auto theft at 9% since 2014. These crimes were also directly impacted by Prop 47.
The staff report concludes that The Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act of 2018 will help to address the rise in larceny crimes by reinstating stiffer penalties for serial theft. Additionally, it will help to keep violent criminals out of our communities and continue violent crime reductions by expanding the definition of violent crimes that would not be eligible for early release from prison.