Letter: Prop. 47 should be defeated
To the community,
With in-your-face audacity, Proposition 47 is misleadingly titled “The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” Here’s what it actually does:
- Allows for the release of nearly 10,000 criminals from prison
- Downgrades many felonies to misdemeanors
- Shifts financial burden away from the State to local government.
Brian Uhler
I cannot imagine how anyone’s neighborhood or school will be safer by releasing thousands of known violent offenders from prison. A better title might have been, “Locals Pay for the State Problem Act.”
Our criminal justice system often relies on convicting very dangerous people for crimes that Proposition 47 downgrades to misdemeanors. Proposition 47 downgrades crimes like possession of date rape drugs, stealing guns, forgery, and identity theft. Dangerous and violent gangs rely on some of these so-called minor crimes to get guns and money. If you like the idea of enabling people who commit these crimes, then you might want to vote for this proposition.
In your California Official Voter Information Guide, those who prepared the argument “for” Proposition 47, in bold face state, “PROPOSITION 47 IS SUPPORTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT.” While there may be some strange law enforcement fringe element that supports it, the major law enforcement groups in California vehemently oppose Proposition 47. These include: California Peace Officers Association, California State Sheriffs’ Association, California Police Chiefs Association and California Fraternal Order of Police.
I hope this weird and dangerous utopian dream will be thwarted by people with common sense. Releasing 10,000 convicted felons doesn’t make anyone safer. Don’t be fooled by the misleading name of this proposition and the false claim that it is “supported by law enforcement.” Schools and neighborhoods will not be safer. I urge you to vote no on Proposition 47.
Thank you,
Brian Uhler, South Lake Tahoe chief of police
I couldn’t agree more Chief. I hope that the responsible citizens who make it a point to vote also do their homework carefully. Appreciate you getting more of the word out into our community. Vote NO on Prop 47.
Thank you Chief Uhler, appreciate the information.
VOTE no on Prop. 47.
Guarenteed Gov. Moonbutt will vote YES!
I wonder how many of the prisoners to be released are part of the huge prison population consisting of non violent drug offenders. Our prisons are clogged with non violent inmates who were sentenced under the three strikes law and are now being warehoused at great expense to the taxpayer. Many prisons now are privately run by corporations who profit from a big prison population.
Uhler is right about violent offenders. No one wants these people in their neighborhoods or near schools but we need to come to grips with the number of prisoners who have never committed a violent offense and likely never will. A huge “house cleaning” is in order.
Well, we need to reduce our prison population. Not only do the courts require it, but it costs us too much money to imprison so many people. Prison has become big business for prison corporations and they are sucking up our tax dollars. Part of the solution is to clear the prisons of people who are incarcerated for non-violent victimless crimes. Prop 47 will help to do that. Another part of the solution is to reduce the population of non-violent offenders. Contrary to what Uhler says above, prop 47 is not about releasing violent offenders. If Uhler had read his voter pamphlet, he would know that. Read if yourself and see for yourself.
Of course Law enforcement officers want to keep low level prisoners locked up. Its all about the dollars. The prison industrial complex is out of control. It targets people of color and the poor.
Of course Law enforcement officers want to keep low level prisoners locked up. Its all about the dollars. The prison industrial complex is out of control. It targets people of color and the poor.
YES ON PROP 47!
Get the facts here before you decide.
http://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_47,_Reduced_Penalties_for_Some_Crimes_Initiative_(2014)#Text_of_measure
Educate yourself and then by all means vote…we need everyone chiming in….
Sorry Brian, but I just read the entire boring Prop 47 text in my voter information and it sounds reasonable to me. I would suggest voters read it too. Brian sounds a bit like chicken little to me.
Sorry Brian, but I just read the entire boring Prop 47, The Criminal Sentences Misdemeanor Penalties Initiative Statute text in my voter information and it sounds reasonable to me. I would suggest voters read it too. Brian sounds a bit like chicken little to me.
I do not believe some of the comments-the law is so crooked. My son is doing 8 years half od 16 for a non-violent white collar crime. The D.A. gave him 16 year because he supposedly said he had a hard on for my son-so who is the criminal. My son took the first plee just so his pregnant fiance who they put in jail also could be with the baby.I have seen child molestors get 5 years-my college professer and out on the streets again-I saw him at the bank. So you tell a little girl whos heart breaks for never having her father in her life. She only sees him once a month. when we were on vacation she was in the back seat-3 years old crying saying I miss my daddy! So all of you who do not look at the whole picture need to realize there are some good people in prison way to long for the crime.And gays and child molesters rome the streets already-So now think twice about how safe you are!
One day my dad said to me < you know they need to throw all the books away and write new ones on laws.