ON October 1, California’s ‘The Public Safety Realignment Act,’ went into effect to satisfy an order issued by the US Supreme Court – shifting responsibility for thousands of inmates and parolees from the state to county authorities.
The controversial plan is intended to relieve severe overcrowding in state prisons. As a result, Sacramento is transferring more than 4,200 offenders to LA.
In response to the plan, LA City officials Mayor Villaraigosa, along with LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, City Controller Wendy Greuel and gang expert Connie Rice, rebuked Gov. Jerry Brown and state legislators for leaving the city to fend for itself and to publicly pressure them for funds, the LA Times reported.
“Today, I am asking Sacramento to fund this transfer of prisoners to cities, as well as counties, across California. In Los Angeles, we will need 150 additional officers, plus resources to hire and train gang violence intervention and prevention workers,” said Mayor Villaraigosa on Monday.
Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief Charlie Beck said he plans to remove 150 officers from patrol or other assignments in order to deal with the state’s prison realignment plan, a move that Chief Beck said will slow police response times to 911 calls.
Beck said the LAPD and other local police departments will now have to assume a leading role alongside the county’s Probation Department in keeping tabs on a “cascading” number of ex-cons who, otherwise, would have been under the watch of the state’s parole department.
By year’s end, the LAPD is expected to be tracking 4,200 offenders, according to figures released by the mayor’s office. Statewide, officials project that county agencies will assume responsibility for about 55,000 people by the time the realignment program is fully implemented in 2015.
In his statement, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said: “Over the last six years in Los Angeles, we have made incredible progress in public safety. We have increased our police force and hired a new, more diverse generation of police officers that reflects the communities they serve. Our new, community focused approach to public safety means officers and community members work together to keep our streets safe. And according to all accounts, it is paying off.
“In 2006, we faced escalating and out of control gang violence. We did not back down. We doubled down and developed the first, and still only in the nation, Gang Reduction and Youth Development program in the Mayor’s Office. Working with LAPD and community partners like the Advancement Project, we developed a comprehensive, data driven and scientifically tested strategy to prevent gang violence from happening.”
“As a result, Los Angeles has the lowest crime in a generation, the lowest number of homicides since 1967, and a 40 percent reduction in the most violent gang crime in targeted neighborhoods during the peak summer crime season.”
“We must balance our budgets, and protect our people. We can solve this issue together. We need a plan in California to ease our prison population. We need a strategy to deal with recidivism. We need to examine our sentencing laws to be sure they work.”n
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