PoliceLink

Written by APB staff

Law enforcement officials in California say that plans to shrink the state’s $14.5 billion budget deficit by shifting responsibility for monitoring parolees from the state to counties could lead to sharp cuts in police funding. “It would result in a loss of officers, possibly a hiring freeze,” Stockton Officer Pete Smith, a department spokesman, told Christian Burkin of the Record newspaper in a recent interview.

A recent report by the state Legislative Analyst’s Office recommended transferring parolees considered “low-risk,” which excludes those on parole for violent or sexual crimes, to county probation departments.

Approximately 71,000 parolees guilty of drug or property offenses account for roughly 56 percent of the total caseload and are considered low-risk. California State Senator Michael Machado said the parole realignment has its benefits.

“There could be efficiencies in terms of delivering services at the local level better than the state can do it,” Machado told the Record. “There is tremendous savings, but there would have to be money that falls to assist in this.”

To get the funds, the Legislative Analyst’s Office has proposed reallocating funds collected through Proposition 172, a half-cent sales tax supporting city and county public-safety programs.

Currently, California cities receive about $180 million from Prop. 172. Under the proposal, that money would be used to support county probation departments as opposed to law enforcement initiatives.

The state Legislative analyst’s office also recommended eliminating the Citizens Option for Public Safety, or COPS program, which last year provided $119 million to California cities and counties to fund courts, jails and front-line law enforcement.

If both measures are adopted, the Stockton Police Department would lose about $1.3 million.

The cities of Lodi and Tracy would each lose around $440,000 and Manteca, $384,000.