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However, I did get to talk on the phone to a lot of people who were there, and I am going to go with what they told me. I am fortunate to know some very observant people, and they came away from this meeting with a lot of information.
The first thing is the meeting was packed. There could have been close to 175 people showing up for this one, or about five times the number that attended Elaine Aguilar's water rate infomercial taping on Wednesday. There were chairs set up in the lobby that were all taken, with many others sitting in the aisles or standing . Unfortunately this meeting was not being televised by KGEM, which means the folks at home weren't in on the action, but also meant that those seated in the lobby didn't get to hear much, either. The TV screens there that normally broadcast what is going on in Council Chambers remained blank.
I had called KGEM earlier in the day because I had hoped to watch this meeting on my laptop. According to the folks I spoke with there no request to televise this meeting had been made by our City Hall.
Officialdom was present in the form of Mayor Pro Tem* John Harabedian, Councilmember John Capoccia, along with City Manager Elaine Aguilar. The residents attending this meeting, all 175 or so, seemed very focused and quite serious. The crime wave that has hit our town in the form of home burglaries has apparently become the #1 concern here. In a village beset with as many problems as ours, crime seems to the one issue that has grabbed the attention of many.
Sierra Madre Police Chief Larry Giannone seemed quite gratified by the turnout. One of the crime fighting tools in any Police Chief's arsenal is an involved and motivated citizenry. If the people are conscious of crime it means that they are watching. And as has been the case here over the last month or so, it was watchful residents that lead to the arrests made so far. The Chief needs people to keep their eyes open.
The biggest news that Chief Giannone had for all of those who turned out is that what has been going on in Sierra Madre is not unique. The crime wave that has hit our community is happening everywhere. The reason for this being the recent release from prison of what are euphemistically called non-violent offenders. You might wonder why non-violent offenders are kicking down front doors and ransacking homes, but we are talking government here. Reality doesn't always figure into it.
Prisons in California are filled way beyond capacity, and a series of recent Court decisions have decreed that something must be done about it. The solutions being to build more prisons, or let low level offenders go. Not exactly awash in cash, Sacramento has opted for the latter solution. The result being crime has now gone through the roof.
Chief Giannone had a film on this matter to play for the assembled. It was prepared by the City of Torrance, and it shows that they too have been experiencing much of what we have here in Sierra Madre. According to the people attending that I spoke with, this film was informative and made some points that they found relevant to their concerns.
There is a document up on the City of Sierra Madre website that also makes many of the same points the film made. I believe this was available at the meeting. I am including much of it here in case you haven't seen it yet. Called the Criminal Justice Realignment Timeline, it explains the root causes for the crime wave.
April 2011 – Governor Brown signs into law AB 109, the Criminal Justice Realignment plan which takes effect October 1, 2011. AB 109 is signed prior to the Supreme Court ruling on overcrowding because the State has been preparing for the ruling, driven by persistent multi-billion dollar deficit and fears for the well being of prison inmates and employees.

May 2011 – The United States Supreme Court issues a ruling that the conditions in California’s overcrowded prisons are so bad that they violate the 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The Court’s ruling orders the State to reduce its prison population by 33,000 inmates.
Realignment Overview
The Criminal Justice realignment Bill, known as AB 109, was signed into law by Governor Brown on April 5, 2011 and provisions of this bill took effect on October 1, 2011. It represents the most significant change to sentencing and corrections in our lifetime.
Realignment focuses on several aspects of criminal sentencing, punishment, and community supervision and certain offenders now are categorized as Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS), those convicted for various non-serious, non-violent, non-sex related offenses.
Realignment is a shift of governmental responsibilities from state government to local government. Rather than being committed to state prison as in the past, criminal offenders convicted under the three nons will now serve their sentences in county jails. The legislation also transferred the responsibility for supervising these offenders upon their release to local county jurisdiction- county probation departments rather than state parole. In addition counties will take over supervision of state parolees whose last offense was non-violent or non-sex offense, and low risk parole violators.
Other key components include a mandate that offenders be released to the counties where they lived when the crime was committed; and one that prevents them from being sent back to state prison for violation of their terms of supervision. Realignment also requires probation departments to utilize programs for the treatment and rehabilitation of these offenders.
Realignment mandates that probation departments perform the job of supervising these PRCS offenders similar to those already placed on probation. With AB 109, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is required to classify offenders only by the present committed offense. In other words, a person with a criminal history of violence or a serious criminal offense, but has a less serious current conviction, qualifies for local incarceration and probation supervision under AB 109. Also included within realignment was the reclassification of over 500 crimes which are now classified under 1170 (h) P.C and commonly known as the 3 non’s.
A total of 1.2 billion dollars has been distributed to the 58 counties in California for realignment. The state hopes to save an estimated 450 million dollars in the first year of realignment and a total of 2 billion by October of 2015. In simple terms realignment will take approximately one-third of the current prison population and realign them from state prison to our county jails and county probation officers IN Los Angeles County.

Current Status of Realignment in Los Angeles County
Since the inception of realignment in October 2011 approximately 17,000 prisoners have been released from state prison back to Los Angeles County. Today that population is just over 14,000 as over 3,500 have been released from supervision after adhering to the terms of their release for a minimum of one year. Los Angeles County Probation is responsible for supervising this population known as Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS) or Post Supervised Person (PSP).
There are three populations that have been created under realignment. The first is the PSP or PRCS which is all of the inmates who were released from state prison to county probation and fall under the category of non violent, non serious or non sex related offender (3 nons).
The second population consists of those convicted of any 1170 (h) P.C. offense and sentenced to county jail and supervised probation. This is known as a split sentence. Currently only 4% of all 1170 (h) convictions result in a split sentence.
The third population created under realignment consists of those convicted of any 1170 (h) P.C. offense and sentenced to county jail to serve their full term. Once their term is met they are released from custody with no supervision or access to probations rehabilitation programs. This is known as a straight sentence with 96% of all 1170 (h) P.C. convictions resulting in straight sentences. Currently all misdemeanor convictions result in the offender serving only 15% of their actual sentence in the Los Angeles County jail system.
LA County Probation had 364 probation officers to supervise 96,000 probationers prior to AB 109. After AB 109 they now have 109,000 combined probationers and PRCS population with the same amount of probation officers. They are still in the process of hiring additional probation officers.
State parole had 1900 Parole Officers prior to AB 109. Their staffing is being reduced to 600 officers. Parole population in the state has gone from 108,000 to 28,000. Prior to AB 109 Los Angeles County alone had 36,000 parolees.
The LA District Attorney’s office handles 60,000 felony convictions per year. Of those convictions 42,000 do not receive state prison sentences. Prior to AB 109 18,000 were sentenced to state prison. Since AB 109 7500 per year will now be sentenced to state prison. The others will be sent to county jail.
To date over 30% of the new PRCS have re-offended by committing new crimes. 60% of the PRCS population has been evaluated as High Risk and 4% Ultra High Risk by LA County Probation.

Over 500 crimes have been re-classified under 1170 (h) P.C. that do not allow for state prison sentences for a conviction of any of these crimes. There are now only 70 crimes on the books that allow for a state prison sentence if convicted.
The next wave of prison releases will be from Federal prisons. Which is unfortunate. The Feds are equally strapped for cash, and the easy rationales described above have their appeal in Washington DC as well. We are pretty much on our own here.
Chief Giannone also had a PowerPoint presentation on how citizens can best help the Police Department in their fight against the crime wave. Outside of locking doors, securing windows and installing home alarm systems, the one best thing that residents can do to help the SMPD do their job is to get involved in the Neighborhood Watch program. As I said earlier, it is the reports of watchful residents that helped make the arrests we've seen so far happen. Citizen involvement being the key message from the Chief last night.
That was pretty much it. The Chief had a few interesting stories to tell. The best one being about the kinds of cars thieves have been known to drive. Apparently it isn't the jalopies you'd expect, but rather some very high end vehicles, the last thing you'd expect recently paroled thieves to be driving. Apparently these are "loaned" to them by accomplices working at long term parking facilities at places like Los Angeles Airport. I doubt that vacationing Angelenos and Malibuians would ever have any idea what the family Lexus was used for during their visits to France.
At the end of the show those attending showed their approval for what they had seen and heard by clapping loudly. People want to believe that those they pay with their tax money are doing the very best job possible to protect both them and their property. Plus it is easier to give support to those already in place rather than having to go through the arduous process of replacing them.
We'll have to see if the good feelings of last evening hold up under the continued onslaught of robberies in town. Because this problem isn't going to go away anytime soon, and with the upcoming Federal prison releases it could actually get worse.
While there was a lot said about why the crime wave is happening, the solutions spoken of by the Chief were not new or particularly innovative. Having been robbed myself, and seen exactly how it goes, especially after the fact, I am not quite as easily convinced.
I guess we'll have to see how it goes, and how people hold up.
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