Law enforcement adjusting to Prop. 47
By Kathryn Reed
The passage of Proposition 47 has California law enforcement agencies having to deal in a new way with those who allegedly commit crimes.
The proposition says many crimes that were considered a felony are now a misdemeanor. It also means instead of being arrested, people will be cited. The citations are similar to getting a traffic ticket.
Some of the felonies that are now misdemeanors include:
• Commercial burglary (theft under $950)
• Forgery and bad checks (under $950 value)
• Theft of most firearms
• Theft of a vehicle (under $950 value)
• Possession of stolen property (under $950 value)
• Possession of heroin, cocaine, illegal prescriptions, concentrated cannabis, and methamphetamine.
“Clearly, more bad guys who are now locked up will be getting out. It’s estimated 10,000 statewide,” South Lake Tahoe Police Chief Brian Uhler told Lake Tahoe News. “I’m not sure how all this will match with the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act. I guess smarter people than me have thought this through. I hope they’re right. The voters have spoken so we will, of course, follow the new law.”
Officers have been given an advisory on adjustments to the law.
“The law will allow inmates sentenced under old laws to file a motion with the courts to get their current sentence modified. I imagine there will be a flood of these motions forthcoming,” El Dorado County sheriff’s Lt. Pete Van Arnum told Lake Tahoe News.
I’m not directly involved so I don’t know the specifics of this law.
But from experience I’ll offer a few observations:
In California, Burglary is defined as entry into a building with intent to commit a crime, not “breaking and entering” as the TV cops would have it.
Shoplifting, and other minor thefts, are often charged as felony burglary if it can be demonstrated that entry into the store or other victim was with the intention of stealing something.
Felony possession of stolen property is more often used as a justification for an arrest and further investigation than a final charge. I can only imagine what a case would look like where the only charge is felony possession of something reported stolen – “Wanna buy a watch, buddy?”
The enforcement of check crimes varies hugely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction – where they’re aggressively enforced, it’s usually for political reasons. Many cops regard the check detail as the “civil division.”
I can only imagine what a supposed crime of stealing a vehicle under $950 in value might involve, but I think most of our cars are still safe.
I have no insight into the change in firearms charges, but I can well imagine how that could have been overcharged in the past. Perhaps we’re finally seeing a law change to counter the strange paranoia over guns.
Possession of stolen property is more often used as a justification for an arrest and further investigation than a final charge. I can only imagine what a case would look like where the only charge is possession of stolen property of low value. But the law has, until now, considered that a felony.
And, of course, the whole illegal drug enforcement thing needs to be re-thought. This change doesn’t go very far to do that, but the current political climate, as evidenced by the recent election, can only further reduce justice in favor of DEA style self righteousness.
For the uninitiated, a “felony” is usually defined as a crime that results in state penitentiary time rather than county time. And there are countless studies that say that much of our prison budget problems (in my state, as well as yours) are the result of over-charging. Sentences need to be based on justice rather than political preferences.
And, also for the uninitiated, those extreme felony charges are almost always the result of a suspect refusing to plea-bargain their case down to a misdemeanor under the “illusion” that they did nothing wrong.
This is the “get out of jail free” bill that every Sheriff and DA warned about. Most theft of guns will be a minor offence now where they were felony crimes before, petty theft with a prior which was a felony is gone and the list goes on this is pure leftist madness which was just defeated in every other state. This is every person’s concern and every street cop’s nightmare when they make an arrest and see the criminal leaving before their report is finished so the criminal can keep the revolving door spinning.
Copper, your honest candor based in reality is refreshing.
Thanks, Level. I’d likely be more refreshing if I didn’t lose a fight with my computer and inadvertently repeat a paragraph of my post. I presume computer incompetency is not yet a crime.