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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-09-12 - AGENDA REPORTS - PUBLIC SAFETY INITIATIVE (2)Agenda Item: I I CITY OF SANTA CLARITA Q;" AGENDA REPORT NEW BUSINESS 7, CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: i DATE: September 12, 2017 SUBJECT: SUPPORT FOR PUBLIC SAFETY RESOLUTION AND PARTICIPATING IN "TAKING BACK OUR COMMUNITY" PUBLIC SAFETY INITIATIVE DEPARTMENT: City Manager's Office PRESENTER: Jerrid McKenna RECOMMENDED ACTION City Council support the Public Safety Coxmnittee's recommendation in support of the attached Resolution and participating in the "Taking Back Our Community" public safety initiative. BACKGROUND Recent changes made by the State through AB 109, Prop 47, and Prop 57, have allowed violent and career criminals to avoid long-term rehabilitation or incarceration in either jail or prison. As a result, this has significantly increased specific areas of crime in communities across the State, including Santa Clarita. Based on the provisions of AB 109, Prop 47, and Prop 57, the definition of what constitutes a violent crime has been eroded, and in California today, the following crines are classified as "non-violent": domestic violence, corporal injury to a child, rape, hate crime causing physical injury, and assault with a deadly weaparz. In 2011, AB 109 transferred the responsibly of housing 45,000 criminals from State prison to local jail facilities. In order to house the violent criminals being transferred, local jail facilities were forced to release tens of thousands of lower -level convicted criminals, and in many cases career criminals, back into our community, which has had the net effect of increasing crime. Under AB 109, the responsibility of incarcerating criminals convicted of certain serious felarzy violations was permanently transferred from State prisarzs to local jail facilities to the detriment of local communities. Page l Packet Pg. 60 Prop 47 was approved by 60 percent of voters in 2014, and changed the following crimes from felonies to misdemeanors: • Shoplifting, theft, forgery/fraud where the value of the crime does not exceed $950 • Possession of illegal drugs, including cocaine, heroin, and methatnphetatnine Crimes that were previously classified as felonies are now misdemeanors. Today, possession of illegal drugs is considered a misdemeanor. Additionally, criminals can steal as many tunes as they want and as long as each occurrence does not exceed $950, the crime is considered a misdemeanor. As a result, criminals are regularly fording loopholes that keep them from jail or prison. Prop 57 allows the State complete authority to release up to 30,000 himates in California State prisons back into our communities, including those convicted of the following violent and serious crimes: rape by intoxication, rape of an unconscious person, human trafficking involving sex acts with minors, drive-by shooting, assault with a deadly weapon, hate crime causing physical injury, and corporal injury to a child. IMPACT The limitations these changes have placed on law enforcement means the rights of victims have been eroded as criminal rights have been expanded. Because of these changes, violent criminals are able to avoid appropriate prison sentences, career criminals are able to avoid jail time, and our police have fewer tools to combat crime. In California, crime rates have sky -rocketed. A 2015 report released by former California Attorney General Kaxnala Harris depicted disturbing statistics of increasing crime in the State: • 166,588 victims of violent crimes, a 10% increase (15,163 more victims) • 1,023,828 victims of property crimes, an 8.1% increase (77,146 more victims) Locally, the City of Santa Clarita has seen similar increases in certain violent crimes. From 2014 to 2016, robbery increased 24%, larceny increased 29%, grand theft auto increased 88%, and arson increased 113%. SOLUTION The path forward needs to be clear and with as many cities possible to move the legislature and administration in a direction that places public safety of our communities first as they attempt criminal justice reform. That includes working with our local police chiefs, sheriffs and others involved in the criminal justice system. To help this effort, several cities in the San Gabriel Valley took the lead in developing an initiative entitled —"Take Back our Community." This initiative is a public relations/marketing campaign designed with the goal of getting as many cities in California raising awareness and educating their communities on the negative impacts of recent legislation and the need for change. In addition, cities are being asked to draft letters of support for the City of Whittier's effort to have the attached Resolution presented and adopted at the upcoming armual League of California Cities connference this mouth. The Resolution asks for the creation of a task force to Page 2 Packet Pg. 61 report ari the unintended negative impacts of recent policy changes and to call for the Governor and the Legislature to work with the League of California Cities to consider and implement criminal justice system reforms. The Santa Clarita City Council is being asked to formally support this Resolution being brought before the League of California Cities at the annual conference September 13-15 in Sacramento. At this point, the following cities have formally supported the initiative: Arcadia. Monrovia, Glendora, Diamond Bar, Walnut, Claremont, Duarte, La Canada Flin fridge, Whittier, Sierra Madre, Covina, and Alhambra. Furthennore, Cal Chiefs and the Deputy District Attorneys' Association have indicated they are joining, in addition to the cities of Monterey Park, West Covina, La Venae, Rosemead, Temple City, Pasadena, and San Marino, all making formal pitches to their City Council in September or October. On September 5, 2017, the City Council Public Safety Committee met to discuss this proposal. As a committee, they are in full support of these liitiaitives. The City Council is being asked to support this broader effort to bring attention to this growing problem statewide. ALTERNATIVE ACTION Take no action. FISCAL IMPACT None by this action. ATTACHMENTS League of California Cities Take Back Our City Resolution Page 3 Packet Pg. 62 A RESOLUTION OF THE LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIES CALLING UPON THE GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE TO ENTER INTO DISCUSSION WITH LEAGUE AND OTHER PUBLIC SAFETY STAKEHOLDERS TO IDENTIFY AND IMPLEMENT STRATEGIES THAT WILL REDUCE THE UNINTENDED NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF EXISTING CRIMINAL LAW THE LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIES DOES HEREBY RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS WHEREAS, during the past several years, State legislative changes have made fundamental alterations to the fabric of California's criminal justice system. Many of those changes have been needed and necessary, as not all crimes should be punished with jail sentences; and WHEREAS, California cities, counties, and the State, however, are facing increased crime which endangers the health and safety of police officers, residents, business owners, and property due to some of these legislative changes which created a situation where violent and career criminals are serving little to no prison time; and WHEREAS, negative impacts from State legislative changes have been far reaching and crime rates and the number of victims are skyrocketing throughout California. The negative impacts of these laws were unintended when voters and legislators approved the laws, which were instead intended to help lower the prison population in California prisons and appropriately rehabilitate non-violent offenders; and WHEREAS, incentives for offenders to voluntarily enroll in substance abuse programs have diminished, which has had the effect of eroding the safety of our communities; and WHEREAS, AB 109 transferred nearly 45,000 felons from the State prison system to local jail facilities, which were not designed to house criminals on a long-term basis and were unprepared for such an increase in incarcerations, resulting in lower -level criminals being released early, directly impacting rising property crime rates throughout the State; and WHEREAS, many probationers who have severe mental illness are released into communities where they continue to commit crimes that adversely impact the safety of community members and drain the resources of probation departments and police departments throughout the state; and WHEREAS, Proposition 47, The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, downgraded a number of serious crimes from felonies to misdemeanors—drug possession, repeated shoplifting, forging checks, gun theft, and possession of date -rape drugs; and WHEREAS, Proposition 57 categorizes rape by intoxication, rape of an unconscious person, human trafficking involving sex with minors, drive-by shooting, assault with a deadly weapon, domestic violence, hate crime causing physical injury, and corporal Packet Pg. 63 injury to a child as "non-violent' felonies and offenders convicted of violating such laws are able to avoid appropriate prison sentences; and WHEREAS, under Proposition 57, criminals who commit multiple crimes against multiple victims will be eligible for release at the same time as offenders who only committed a single crime against a single victim and allows repeat criminals to be eligible for release after the same period of incarceration as first time offenders; and WHEREAS, cities must join together to voice their concerns for these legislative changes that have created an adverse impact on the safety of residents and businesses in local communities. NOW, THEFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the General Assembly of the League of California Cities, assembled in Sacramento on September 95, 2097, to: 9. Direct League staff to consider creating a task force with other organizations and jointly commission a report on the unintended negative impacts of recent and future criminal law to identify necessary changes, working with key stakeholders to promote support for resulting advocacy efforts. 2. Promote an amendment of appropriate sections of AB 909 to change the criteria justifying the release of non-violent, non -serious, non -sex offender inmates to include their total criminal and mental health history instead of only their last criminal conviction. 3. Continue to advocate to place into law that for the purposes of Section 32 of Article I of the California Constitution, a violent offense includes any of the following: • Murder or voluntary manslaughter. • Mayhem. • Rape. • Sodomy by force, violence, duress, menace, or threat of great bodily harm. • Oral copulation by force, violence, duress, menace, or threat of great bodily harm. • Lewd acts on a child under the age of 94 years. • Any felony punishable by death or imprisonment in the state prison for life. • Any other felony in which the defendant inflicts great or serious bodily injury on any person, other than an accomplice, that has been charged and proven, or any felony in which the defendant uses a firearm which use has been charged and proven. • Attempted murder. • Assault with intent to commit rape or robbery. • Assault with a deadly weapon or instrument on a peace officer. • Assault by a life prisoner on a non -inmate. • Assault with a deadly weapon by an inmate. • Arson. Packet Pg. 64 • Exploding a destructive device or any explosive with intent to injure. • Exploding a destructive device or any explosive causing great bodily injury. • Exploding a destructive device or any explosive with intent to murder. • Robbery. • Kidnapping. • Taking of a hostage by an inmate of a state prison. • Attempt to commit a felony punishable by death or imprisonment in the state prison for life. • Any felony in which the defendant personally used a dangerous or deadly weapon. • Escape from a state prison by use of force or violence. • Assault with a deadly weapon. • Extortion as defined in Penal Code section 598, or threats to victims or witnesses as defined in Penal Code section 936.9, which would constitute a felony violation of Penal Code section 986.22. • Carjacking. • Discharge of a firearm at an inhabited dwelling, vehicle, or aircraft. • Throwing acid or flammable substances with intent to injure. • Continuous sexual abuse of a child. 4. Request the State to improve the Smart Justice platform to provide an effective statewide data sharing to allow state and local law enforcement agencies to rapidly and efficiently share offender information to assist in tracking and monitoring the activities of AB 909 and other offenders. 5. Encourage the collection and organization of real world data from cities and counties on the universe of post -release community supervision (PRCS) offenders. 6. Encourage cities throughout California to join in these advocacy efforts to mitigate the unintended negative impacts of recent policy changes to the criminal justice system. 7. Call for the Governor and the Legislature to work with the League and others stakeholders to consider and implement such criminal justice system reforms. Packet Pg. 65