Home Brentwood Brentwood POA on Prop 47: Are the Police That Out of Touch With Their Communities?

Brentwood POA on Prop 47: Are the Police That Out of Touch With Their Communities?

by ECT

From where I stand, there are only two explanations for why voters passed Proposition 47. Either the police are way out of touch with the citizens they serve, or most voters didn’t know what they were voting for. Proposition 47 was sold as something that would make our communities safer, but anyone who read the small print knows this could not be further from the truth.

A lot of people saw the proposition was going to make simple possession of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, date rape drugs, and pretty much every other drug, a misdemeanor. For people that want to eventually legalize all street drugs, they didn’t need to read any further than that. But let’s talk about that part for a second. What crime do a large percentage of drug dealers plead their cases down to? That’s right, they plead to simple possession instead of possession for sales or actual drug sales. Since the changes in Proposition 47 are going to be applied retroactively, do you know how many thousands of drug dealers are going to be released back in to our communities?

Proposition 47 also made all thefts of anything valued under $950, including guns and vehicles, a misdemeanor instead of a felony. And this is the case no matter how many times the person commits theft. Before Prop 47, once someone had been convicted of theft on three separate occasions, the DA had the option of charging subsequent petty thefts as a felony. Now, a thief can be a thief for their entire life and never face a felony charge.

The proponents of Prop 47 might point out that the new law allows for the above offenses to be charged as a felony if the violator is a sex registrant, or has a prior conviction for certain offenses considered to make them an “unreasonable risk to public safety”. That part of the law doesn’t sound bad on its face, but which crimes do you, John Q. Public, think should qualify someone as an unreasonable risk to public safety. How about residential burglary? Nope. What about armed robbery? No. Carjacking? Guess again. What about shooting a police officer, surely that person should be considered an “unreasonable risk to public safety”, right? Nope again, under the new Proposition 47 laws, a person is only an unreasonable risk to public safety if they used a MACHINE GUN to shoot that police officer. The fact is, the list of crimes for which a prior conviction will qualify someone as an unreasonable risk to public safety is very short. It basically consists of “sexually violent offenses”, sexually molesting a child under 14, murder, and possession of weapons of mass destruction.

And remember folks, the changes to the law made by the passage of Proposition 47 are retroactive. That means the dangerous people currently sitting in prison for these offenses are going to be released into the community.

So, are we out of touch with the community we serve? Is this what our residents want? Apparently 65% of the county does…

I’m interested to hear your opinions.

Eric Huesman
President
Brentwood Police Officers Association

A look at Prop 47

California Proposition 47, the Reduced Penalties for Some Crimes Initiative, was on the November 4, 2014 ballot in California as an initiated state statute. The measure was approved.

The initiative reduces the classification of most “nonserious and nonviolent property and drug crimes” from a felony to a misdemeanor. Specifically, the initiative:

  • Mandates misdemeanors instead of felonies for “non-serious, nonviolent crimes,” unless the defendant has prior convictions for murder, rape, certain sex offenses or certain gun crimes. A list of crimes that would be affected by the penalty reduction are listed below.
  • Permits re-sentencing for anyone currently serving a prison sentence for any of the offenses that the initiative reduces to misdemeanors. About 10,000 inmates would be eligible for resentencing, according to Lenore Anderson of Californians for Safety and Justice.[3]
  • Requires a “thorough review” of criminal history and risk assessment of any individuals before re-sentencing to ensure that they do not pose a risk to the public.
  • Creates a Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund. The fund would receive appropriations based on savings accrued by the state during the fiscal year, as compared to the previous fiscal year, due to the initiative’s implementation. Estimates range from $150 million to $250 million per year.
  • Distributes funds from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund as follows: 25 percent to the Department of Education, 10 percent to the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board and 65 percent to the Board of State and Community Correction.

The measure requires misdemeanor sentencing instead of felony for the following crimes:

  • Shoplifting, where the value of property stolen does not exceed $950
  • Grand theft, where the value of the stolen property does not exceed $950
  • Receiving stolen property, where the value of the property does not exceed $950
  • Forgery, where the value of forged check, bond or bill does not exceed $950
  • Fraud, where the value of the fraudulent check, draft or order does not exceed $950
  • Writing a bad check, where the value of the check does not exceed $950
  • Personal use of most illegal drugs

The initiative was pushed by George Gascón, San Francisco District Attorney, and William Lansdowne, former San Diego Police Chief.

Supporters of the initiative refered to it as “The Safe Neighborhood and Schools Act”.

You may also like

17 comments

Concerned Antioch Resident Nov 5, 2014 - 11:34 pm

I feel that people voted for this measure thinking that it would help relieve the overcrowding in the jails and keep from having to spend more money on building additional correctional facilities– not understanding that these newly released criminals would be taking up residency in our cities and draining our already strained budgets for police services as crime will exponentially increase. If they think crime is bad now, just wait…

JimSimmons42 Nov 6, 2014 - 7:27 am

ECT and the Brentwood POA failed the community by not getting out this message prior to the election. I typically support ECT, but you dropped the ball on Prop 47.

Concerned Brentwood Resident Nov 6, 2014 - 8:17 am

Please don’t place the blame on someone else for your inability to read this measure! That’s the problem with California politics. Uninformed voters have gotten us into the mess we are in and it’s about to get a whole lot worse. If people would stop watching the mind numbing political ads that are thrown our way and read the fine print of each and every measure, this would not have passed. It saddens me that this once great State is falling to pieces.

Red Nov 6, 2014 - 11:10 am

The “word” was right there on the ballot. Anyone who took the time to vote could see at a glance what this one was about. We are outnumbered by the voting crooks and parasites in California. Are you working on your escape plan yet?

Red Nov 6, 2014 - 11:16 am

I’d comment but the illegible scan image won’t let me.

Julio Nov 6, 2014 - 11:56 am

Uninformed voters. People who vote in people with questionable backgrounds. Voters who don’t take the time to read EVERYTHING. I do not believe the police departments of East County are out of touch. Now we can have fun CORRECTING this mistake.

Skip Richardson Nov 6, 2014 - 2:12 pm

Blaming the Law Enforcement community for not getting the word out, is complete Bullshit. The liberal, not able to read, comprehend and being UNINFORMED as to what was on the ballot are to blame. You, the Voters are to blame for making your home, property and life easier prey for the thousands of criminals that are going to be released, upon your cities and streets…..When you become a Victim, don’t blame it on the police (who already did their job and put these people away)….and it is not George Bush’s fault……enjoy the crime Wave, coming to your city soon.

Mike C. Nov 8, 2014 - 9:53 pm

Well said Skip.

Scott Nov 6, 2014 - 2:35 pm

I read the Proposition and voted “Yes”. I believe that petty theft and drug possession should be misdemeanors. You mention car jacking and shooting a cop, etc…but those crimes are STILL felonies. But if the car jacker was convicted, did his time and was “rehabilitated”, then he should not be charged with a felony for stealing a bike or possession of meth. Odds are he or she has a drug problem and is trying to support the habit (which will not be helped with jail time). I just wanted to let you know that some of the “Yes” votes are from educated voters…even if you don’t agree with my beliefs.

Stan The Man Nov 22, 2014 - 10:36 pm

Scott, you are a very special kind of stupid.

aaron Nov 7, 2014 - 9:39 am

Scott, you live in a fantasy land if you believe your yes vote somehow made the situation better there, and it will take a very short period of time to see that those facilities will be more crowded, and your citizenry will continue to be victimized, by the same people you believe you are “saving”. Even if you don’t agree with my beliefs.

legacy89 Nov 7, 2014 - 10:30 am

How “rehabilitated” can you consider someone if they continue to steal? That’s the reason they get charged with felonies (used to) because they’ve proven they are not rehabilitated. But you’re educated so what do I know…

Dale Nov 7, 2014 - 1:57 pm

We have a probation officer in our family and they are already reeling for all of the inmates they have already released, I read and voted NO, we are are in for a even worse crime waive than we already have in East County and the rest of the State!!

Roman Nov 7, 2014 - 7:01 pm

I didn’t vote for this measure nor did I vote against it. I am sick of the near-tyrannical drug enforcement policies. Users should not be prosecuted, period. What you choose to ingest is your business and the government needs to wake up, stop wasting money, time and effort in pursuing drug users. When I hear about teenagers doing multiple years for simple possession of a narcotic and having a permanent criminal record because they took some pills it makes me sick. If you need proof that a liberal drug policy works look at Portugal and Denmark.

That being said – this measure clearly needs some serious editing. Even with the laws on the books it’s common for burglars, thieves and any number of crooks to get caught red-handed and walk away with a court date. Free to roam the streets for months and cause limitless havoc while the court system gets it’s head out it’s metaphorical rear end. Without fixing the bogged down court system this is just adding fuel to the fire. $5 says Pittsburg and Antioch experience an even higher crime rate in 2015.

Bill Goodwin Nov 8, 2014 - 1:45 pm

Citizens aren’t stupid, they just have longer memories than you give them credit for. Citizens have been pulled over in this County for BS reasons and lies for so many years that their experiences have saturated their feelings towards LE and the courts/prison system. Now with Social Media we find that we all share negative experiences and scenarios with regard to LE and their “Us -vs-them” attitudes. We have sent a message by de-funding Police entities, and their response has been to fight the citizenry by refusing to patrol our neighborhoods due to “Lack of sufficient funding”. All of the comments on this strand show the disconnect between LE and the Public!! Open your eyes and be better cops, don’t give ridiculous tickets for tow ball obstruction, cracked windshields, fake speeding violations, and myriad “letter of the law” pissy violations. Anyone who has fought a ticket in court has seen the kangaroo atmosphere going on! The citizen who cross examined the officer and made him look like an idiot only to be found guilty anyway!! The production of scientific or photographic proof the officer was wrong or lying that is totally ignored. Every single day there is another abuse of authority story, or violation of civil rights story and we all see the correlation of how we are treated in CoCoCounty. Just stop it!! We expect more from you, show some Discipline, Tact, Judgement, Honesty, Integrity, Humility, Respect… http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/shocking-corruption-exposed-in-prison-system-355324483981?adbid=771017872994467&adbpl=fb&adbpr=273864989376427&cid=sm_m_main_1_20141108_35272957

Philip Mancini Nov 9, 2014 - 8:57 pm

There’s absolutely no such thing as an educated “yes” vote for Prop 47. In order to claim an educated vote, those persons would need a basic understanding of the proposition and the justice system that the proposition affects. I highly doubt that most citizens really understand how the criminal justice process works. This proposition took a major step backwards in the ability for our district attorney’s to do their jobs effectively, which is to prosecute offenders. It’s a complete myth to assert that low level drug offenders are being sent to prison, or low level property crime offenders for that matter. In most cases, felony charges get plea bargained down to misdemeanors, unless there are other more egregious circumstances.

I also find it odd that people believe that heroin, cocaine, and date rape drug possession should be classified as misdemeanors. These are not recreational drugs like marijuana (which is a misdemeanor), and they feed a culture that requires high levels of property crime, sometimes violent, to support. It’s this lack of understanding that causes the “educated” voter to believe that they’re making a positive change in our society, when they’re actually creating more victimization of law abiding citizens.

This lack of knowledge of criminal behavior and the solutions to prevent recidivism cause the “educated” voter to believe that if we just decriminalize enough, we can somehow create a path to turning habitual criminals into productive citizens.

Philip Mancini
President
Roseville Police Officers’ Association

Andy Nov 11, 2014 - 12:52 am

Sounds like somebody got a ticket and is butt hurt…

Comments are closed.