The Gilroy Police Department and City Council are concerned that a double-digit increase in crime between October 2011 and October 2012 is a direct result of legislation that lets felons out of prison without state supervision.
As inmates shift from state prisons to county jails – a court-mandated change following passage of Assembly Bill 109 – and then to local municipalities, police say it’s draining resources and is the root cause of a 19 percent spike in crime. Citing increased violent crimes, property crimes, drug-related crimes and gang activity as a result, City Council is asking state legislators for increased funding.
Of the more than 9,000 felons released through AB 109 in California since 2011, 73 have landed in Gilroy. A majority of the group released through realignment have been involved in criminal activity since their release, according to GPD Chief Denise Turner.
At the Dec. 2 meeting, City Council voted to send a letter to local legislators, including Sen. Jerry Hill, Assemblyman Luis Alejo and Sen. Bill Monning explaining the local impacts of the legislation. Council followed the lead of the Santa Clara County Association of Cities in sending the letter to lawmakers, but also requested state funding for a holistic study of the AB 109’s effects in Gilroy.
“I can draw a correlation between the release of these individuals to our increase in crime rate,” said GPD Chief Denise Turner. “We do believe that this population is having a major impact on our crime rate in our community – particularly our officers’ resources.”
Of those 73 criminals released without state supervision, since then, the Gilroy Police Department interviewed 60 during investigations into criminal activity. There are currently active arrest warrants for 11 of the realignment offenders in the Garlic Capital, according to police records.
According to GPD Crime Analyst, Records and Property Manager David Boles, 46 of the 73 felons who returned to Gilroy upon their release through the legislation have been re-arrested for separate crimes.
The first felon released without state supervision through AB 109 was James Bob Lucio, who police say is a known criminal street gang member. GPD Sgt. Joseph Deras, who heads the department’s gang suppressing Anti-Crime Team, needs no prompting to recall Lucio’s actions following his release from prison.
Lucio served time in state prison for making a criminal threat against a Gilroy bar owner, flexing his ties to street gangs in an attempt to intimidate the man, Deras said.
“He gets released and he’s back in the community,” Deras said. “Right away, (Lucio) starts using methamphetamine.”
On Jan. 11, 2012, the GPD found Lucio in a stolen car near the intersection of Montebello Drive and Wren Avenue.
“We chase him down and catch him, fight with him and take him into custody,” Deras said, explaining that Lucio was found with pre-packaged bags of methamphetamine. Lucio was charged with possession of a controlled substance for sale, auto theft and a parole violation and is still serving time, Deras said.
“(Our officers) don’t have enough time to go to the current calls for service they have, so (AB 109) definitely adds to the complexity of serving our community,” added Turner.
The GPD has added one new position for a sworn, active-duty officer since the first inmate was released to Gilroy without any state supervision in 2011. Since then, the department has hired six new officers – but that was to replace retiring officers.
The department currently has a staff of 65 sworn officers. At the start of fiscal year 2014, a new position will be added to fill the hole of an anticipated retirement by one of the officers.
“Especially on patrol, all of our officers are stretched pretty thin,” said GPD Sgt. Pedro Espinoza. “Hopefully in Sacramento they hear enough voices as to where they start funneling some funds at the local level to hire some more police officers.”
With little research on the impacts of AB 109 on local municipalities, the verdict is still out on whether the legislation will rehabilitate the less serious offenders in California, reads a November report produced by the Criminal Justice Center at Stanford University.
“California represents a high-stakes test kitchen,” said Joan Petersilia, faculty co-director of the SCJC. “Realignment is anchored in the theory that by managing lower-level offenders in locally run, community-based programs using evidence-based practices, the state will achieve improved public safety outcomes by helping more former felons lead crime-free lives.”
In a year, Turner said the GPD plans on having access to a statewide database that tracks all AB 109 realignment offenders who have been released since 2011. It will also reveal how many times an offender has been contacted by law enforcement – and why.
“We’ll all have access to this information, which a year from now will be really telling about what the true impacts of AB 109 are,” she added.
The GPD currently receives a monthly report that names criminals who will be released to Gilroy’s zip code.
And to help local jurisdictions keep tabs on more than 9,000 criminals released through the program in California to date, the state provided $4.4 billion to all 58 counties during the program’s first two years.
“When I was serving as a criminal prosecutor, I learned that neighborhoods and communities are really the front line of defense against criminal activity,” said Councilman and former San Benito County Deputy District Attorney Peter Leroe-Munoz, who currently serves as in-house counsel for a San Francisco-based financial advisory firm. “The state has got to ensure cities have those resources to address the consequences of AB 109 realignment.”
To fill that gap, Espinoza said the Anti-Crime Team has assumed the de facto role of keeping an eye on AB 109 realignment offenders once they enter the city.
“Occasionally, they will do compliance checks which again remove the (ACT Team) from doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” Espinoza said. “They go out there and make sure that these guys, when they do get out, are doing what they’re supposed to be doing pursuant to their release.”
Until the state responds to the concerns of Gilroy authorities, Deras and his team of six will be keeping eyes on the criminals released to Gilroy through the legislation between their usual calls for service and gang suppression responsibilities.
“These people aren’t minor violators. In most cases that the Anti-Crime Team deals with, these guys are heavy hitters,” Deras added. “They’re not your check fraud guys; they’re your gang members, drug dealers – and a couple of these guys were involved in car chases, guns and narcotics. They’re serious and violent felons.”
The U.S. Supreme Court in May 2011 mandated California prisons reduce inmate populations by 25 percent over a two-year period to address concerns of overcrowding, shifting responsibility – and the inmates themselves – to county jails and probation departments. Gilroy authorities claim this “sweeping reform” has local consequences, leading to a double-digit increase in crime in the Garlic Capital.
