Politics & Government

OPINION: Legislature Still Has a Lot of Work to Do to Keep Public Safe

"It is clear that California is reaching a breaking point on public safety." -- Assemblywoman Melissa A. Melendez

When I came to Sacramento last December, I told my constituents that one of my top priorities was and continues to be keeping our families and communities safe. However, as vice chair of the Assembly Public Safety Committee, I found this past year was a frustrating, and often infuriating one, on that front.

While its name would imply that it has the public’s best interest at heart, unfortunately that was not always the case. For every good public safety proposal, there were just as many that did little to accomplish that goal, if it all.

Consider the changes to our prison system over the last two years. Since 2011, California’s prisons have begun shifting thousands of felons from state facilities to local jails under a Democrat-passed law dubbed “realignment.”

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The list of problems with the law is long, but one of its worst offenses is that it puts pressure on local law enforcement and our already overcrowded county jails, forcing the release of inmates before they pay their full debts to society. Here in Riverside County, it will likely mean the early release of over 10,000 convicted felons.

We have already seen the real life risks posed to our neighborhoods. In a September sweep of criminals out on post-release community supervision, law enforcement netted 15 arrests for probation violations and allegations of child endangerment, heroin possession for sale, and being under the influence of a controlled substance, among others. To learn more about realignment, I encourage you to visit www.CACrimeWatch.com.

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While my Republican colleagues and I would welcome its repeal, we recognize that for now it is the law, which is why we proposed ways to fix some of its most egregious provisions, such as sending sex offenders back to prison, instead of jail, when they violate their parole by cutting off their GPS monitoring devices. But instead of passing these solutions, Democrats made an already bad situation worse.

One measure they passed, Assembly Bill 624, gives jail inmates the opportunity to shave up to six weeks off their sentence by accomplishing certain “performance objectives.” Combined with other early release credits and the aggravation of overcrowding, they can reduce their sentence by up to 62 percent, as long as the crime committed was “non-violent.”

As a mother, there is no other way to describe bills like this one other than as disturbing. Under realignment, “non-violent” can cover crimes such as felony child abuse, grand theft, and hate crimes. Others eligible for this new reduction include sex offenders, who in my opinion need to serve out their full terms in jail. 

At the same time it passed this law, Democrats on the committee also killed Assembly Bill 605, which would have sent sex offenders who violate any provision of their parole or post-release community supervision back to state prison to serve any sentence handed down for that violation. We should have zero-tolerance for these repeat criminals, and they should receive a punishment suited to their criminal history.   

Another measure I introduced, Assembly Bill 1084, was also defeated at the hands of the liberal majority. It would have repealed realignment’s weakened penalties for gun criminals and increased penalties for such crimes as criminals illegally possessing firearms or knowingly providing guns to prohibited persons. For a party that seems so adverse to anyone owning a firearm, it’s puzzling that even a bill like this one did not pass muster with Democrats.

It is clear that California is reaching a breaking point on public safety. The majority party in the Legislature needs to wake up, pay attention to what is happening at the local level, and take action. Republicans stand ready to keep our communities safe. The question is are Democrats ready to do the same? --By Assemblywoman Melissa A. Melendez 

Assemblywoman Melissa A. Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, represents the 67th Assembly District in the California Legislature.


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