For years, the Inland Empire has been facing a crisis of rising crime, fueled by fentanyl-related overdoses, organized retail theft, and homelessness–and it’s being felt in communities across the state.
According to an analysis published last year, retail theft and commercial robbery rates have risen across California in recent years. And according to another recent study, California’s opioid-related deaths have skyrocketed by 121% in 3 years.
While there are a variety of factors influencing these increases, there is a clear cause that we can remedy this November. Proposition 47, passed by California voters in 2014, changed certain low-level crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, with the savings from reduced incarceration costs to be invested into drug and mental health treatment, as well as other services.
While it was a well-intentioned attempt to learn from the mistakes of the War on Drugs where we threw far too many people in jail, the reality is that certain components of Prop 47 have simply not worked. Namely, it reclassified some theft offenses as misdemeanors and raised the amount for which theft can be prosecuted as a felony.
A recently-published state audit of crime in the Inland Empire highlighted how these policies have backfired, showing that the number of serial offenders substantially rose in the aftermath of Prop 47.
It’s clear that these reclassifications have emboldened repeat offenders to commit more crime, and encouraged organized retail theft across the state. We need to discard the pieces of Prop 47 that are making it harder for public safety officials to keep our communities safe.
That’s why I am joining the Palm Springs Police Chief, the Palm Springs Police Officers Association and law enforcement professionals across the state in supporting Proposition 36, which will hold repeat retail theft offenders and serious drug traffickers accountable while incentivizing drug treatment for those with serious addictions.
Prop 36 would make a third conviction for property theft a felony charge, broaden the law to include a series of thefts of items with a total value of more than $950, and hold those who “act in concert” accountable. It would also crack down on those who traffic hard drugs to combat the devastating impacts of drug addiction in our communities.
These critical measures would go a long way in confronting the repeat offenders, organized retail theft rings, and drug traffickers who have been eroding communities across California.
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As elected officials, it’s critical that we always listen to the people on the ground who are most impacted by a certain issue. And in this case, it’s far past time that we actually listen to our law enforcement officers and small business owners when they tell us the changes in our laws are failing to hold criminals accountable.
And for years, police officers and prosecutors have been warning about the side-effects of lowering penalties for serious crimes under Prop 47, while local small business owners have been lamenting the seemingly unending smash and grabs and other retail theft across the state.
While I don’t agree with every aspect of Prop 36, I believe that is a balanced and common-sense step forward for California. The first task of any elected officials is to ensure that their constituents are safe in their communities, and Prop 36 would make significant steps in addressing this concern across the state.
