POLICE DEPARTMENT Proposition 47 SAFE NEIGHBORHOODS AND SCHOOLS FUND Presented by Lt. Tracey Ibarra Pasadena Police Department October 6, 2014 City Council Proposition 47 Overview Police Department • Proposition authorized by former State Assemblyman Robert M. Hertzberg • Mandate to reduce sentencing for non-serious and non-violent felony property and drug crimes to misdemeanors convictions • Add or modify sections to the Government Code, California Penal Codes, and Health and Safety Codes. • Retroactive and allows resentencing for persons currently in prison for felony convictions to have convicts reduced to misdemeanors and be released from prison. • Beginning fiscal year 2016, redirects anticipated State incarceration costs to an account to funds State Department of Education, Victim’s Compensation and Board of State and Community Corrections programs. 2 Code and Sentencing Changes Police Department • Creates Penal Code Section 459(a) or 459.5 - Shoplifting under $950 • Amends Penal Code 473 — Forgery • Amends Penal Code 476a — Insufficient funds in Acct • Adds Penal Code 490.2 — Relating to Petty Theft • Amends Penal Code 496 — Poss. of Stolen Property (Including a firearm) • Amends Penal Code 666 — Petty Theft with prior 3 Code and Sentencing Changes Police Department • Amends Health and Safety Code 11350 — Possession of Controlled Substances • Amends Health and Safety Code Section 11357 — Possession of concentrated cannabis • Amends Health and Safety Code Section 11377 — Possession of a controlled substance Methamphetamine, schedule III, IV, or V drugs (including date rape drug). Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) estimates about 10th of 40,000 offenders annually convicted under crimes listed in Prop 47 are sentences to prison. 4 Exceptions To Modifications Police Department • Prop. 47 allows for felony charge (N3) only when the person has a specified serious or violent felony. • Specified in Penal Code Section 667 (e)(2) (c) (iv) • Violent Sexually Offenses • Child Molestation • Homicide or Attempted Homicide • Solicitation to Commit Murder • Assault on a peace officer with machine gun • Possession of a weapon of mass destruction • Any serious or violent crime punishable by life imprisonment or death 5 Funding Police Department • Monies transferred into the fund are to be considered General Fund revenues which may be appropriated pursuant to Article XIII of State Constitution. • Prohibits the Legislature from appropriating the funds to any other purpose than those described in the proposition. • LAO estimated net state criminal justice system savings low hundreds of millions of dollars annually. • However, Legislative Analyst’s Office also determined savings from Correction’s cost may be off-set by the costs associated with county jail sentences, community supervision and the number of crimes affected by the measure. 6 Funding Distribution Police Department • 25% to the Department of Education to administer grant programs aimed at reducing truancy, supporting students who are at risk of dropping out or who are crime victims. • 10% to the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board to administer grants to trauma recovery centers. • 65% to the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) to administer a grant program aimed at mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, and diversion programs for people in the criminal justice system. 7 Impact on the Courts Police Department • Allows a person serving a felony sentence for any of the previously mentioned crimes to petition for resentencing. • Requires a court to grant a qualifying petition for resentencing unless the court finds unreasonable risk the petitioner will commit one of a limited specified violent felonies. (Murder, sexually violent crimes). • Allows person to apply to have completed felony sentences to be re-designated a misdemeanor . • Requires a petition or application for resentencing be filed within 3 years, or later upon showing of good cause. 8 Parole & Probation Concerns Police Department • How the additional layer of responsibilities created by Prop. 47 would impact an already strained public safety system. • How the new sentencing changes will affect counties' ongoing efforts to implement AB 109. • Current judicial programs - CA. Penal Code 1000 (lower level H&S arrests placed on drug diversion program or Drug Court. Successful completion charges dismissed as if arrest never occurred.) • Prop 47 would restrict judicial authority for incarceration of potentially dangerous suspect for offences once qualifying (felony). • California realignment has identified 3Ns and released from prison over 44,000 persons. • Shortage of parole or probation officers and resources. 9 Impact on the Jails Police Department • Persons resentenced under the measure shall be given credit for time served and shall be subject to parole for one year, but court have discretion to release without parole. • Revocations of parole would be served in County Jails. • Certain current state felony sentenced inmates would now be sentenced to the county jail, misdemeanors convictions. • Other current 1170(h) crimes would become misdemeanors, impacting jail population, potentially reducing population. • How will LA County implement new misdemeanors sentences, custody verses diversion programs (Rutherford, N3, other). • Re-hearing and re-sentencing challenges, judicial entities need additional staff to review cases and develop mechanism to alert probation. 10 Impact on City Police Department Fiscal impact of Proposition 47 to the City of Pasadena is undetermined although it will likely: • Significant cost increase to the City Prosecutor’s Office as a result of thousands of cases being redirected to local municipalities for misdemeanor prosecutions verses the County District Attorney’s Office. • • Undetermined impact on public safety due to a potential number of increased calls for service by repeat offenses, community supervision impacts (verses jail sentences), and the cost for directed enforcement related to the monitoring of sentence offenders, as occurred with the implementation of AB 109. 11 Opposition to Prop 47 Police Department • • • • • • • • • • • • League of California Cities Position California Police Chiefs’ Association Former LA District Attorney Steve Cooley San Gabriel Valley Police Chief’s Association (agreement with the California Police Chiefs’ Association) California District Attorneys’ Association Nine Individual County District Attorney California State Sheriffs Association California Peace Officers Association California Correctional Supervisors Association Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman Nine individual County Sheriffs 12 Opposition to Prop 47 Police Department • • • • • • • • California Coalition Against Sexual Assault California Center for Prevention of Crime California Retailers Association Crime Victims United Crime Victims Action Alliance California Republican Party John Scribner, Trustee at Sacramento Board of Education Many others The Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey has not taken a position. 13 Supports of Prop 47 Police Department • • • • • • • • • • • • • • American Civil Liberties Union San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón (D) Former San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne Open Society Policy Center League of Women’s Voters of California California Council of Churches B. Wayne Hughes Jr., businessman and philanthropist Marin County Superintendent of Schools Mary Jane Burke California’s for Safe Neighborhoods Atlantic Advocacy Fund California Teachers Association Women’s Foundation of CA NAACP California Democratic Party Reed Hastings M. Quinn Delaney 14 Recommendation Police Department • It is recommended that the City Council oppose Proposition 47, the Safe Neighborhood and Schools Act (SNSA) of 2014. 15