As local law-enforcement leaders, we're alarmed about these bills in Sacramento
As Riverside County's top law-enforcement officials, we want to warn the public about proposed state laws that would endanger our communities.
And we need your help to stop them.
In recent years, the California Legislature has enacted a wide range of laws impacting criminal justice which have ushered in a regrettable period of lawlessness, homelessness, and a general degradation of public safety.
These laws have allowed violent criminals back on the streets, hindered investigations and prosecutions of gang members, and have effectively decriminalized acts that now plague our neighborhoods, businesses, and daily news feeds.
The 2022 California legislative session began Jan. 3. The slate of criminal justice laws being considered can be described as nothing less than pro-criminal and anti-public-safety, including one that would allow “safe zones” in some cities where hard narcotics could be used legally.
Other recent measures would have decriminalized date-rape drugs, provided sanctuary state status to convicted child molesters and established $0 bail. Though some of these bills were introduced in prior years and didn't pass, they could still be voted on this year.
These are but a few pieces of conscience-shocking legislation our current lawmakers have proposed.
The group I represent, the Association of Riverside County Chiefs of Police and Sheriffs, is made up of 18 police chiefs, plus the chief probation officer, sheriff, undersheriff and district attorney.
For decades, we have quietly collaborated with our federal, state and local partners on programs to keep the residents of Riverside County safe. But now that the direct threat to public safety increasingly comes from the passage of dangerous state laws, we are obligated to warn you about them and ask for your assistance.
On our newly published web site ARCCOPS.com, in a section entitled “Public Safety Ratings for Our Elected Officials,” we analyze and grade the voting records of state legislators from Riverside County with regard to public safety bills.
Several of our senators and Assembly members are receiving A’s and B’s, but a shocking number of them are failing the citizens who voted them into office.
We encourage the voters of Riverside County to evaluate this information and to contact your local representatives, asking them to stop drafting and supporting laws that endanger all of us.
As law enforcement leaders, it is our duty to inform the public about any impending dangers, including the consequences of bad laws. We will continue to work tirelessly to stop dangerous legislation and to encourage our state representatives to oppose social experiments that place the public in harm's way.
We look forward to partnering with our community members to prevent this from happening.
Joe DelGiudice is the chief investigator for the Riverside County district attorney and president of the Association of Riverside County Chiefs of Police and Sheriffs.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: As Riverside County leaders, we're alarmed about bills in Sacramento
