State Sen. Alan Lowenthal Skeds Mar 20 Virtual Town Hall On "Public Safety Realignment" w/ Live Streaming, Expert Panel & Public's Questions Invited

(March 13, 2012) -- State Senator Alan Lowenthal's office has announced that he'll hold a "virtual townhall on statewide public safety realignment" -- in which the public is invited to submit questions for an expert panel -- on Tuesday, Mar. 20 from 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Realignment is a hot-button issue. Some local officials in the criminal justice system (L.A. District County Attorney Steve Cooley, LBPD Chief Jim McDonnell and LB City Prosecutor Doug Haubert, quotes below) have openly voiced concerns to Sacramento's response to a federal court order (to reduce prison overcrowding) by shifting responsibility from the state for incarcerating some convicted felons and parole of others to county authorities.

In a release, the Senator's office says:

[Sen. Lowenthal office release] The goal of the townhall is to provide an update on realignment, answer the public's questions, and dispel some common misconceptions regarding this public safety issue. The state is under a federal mandate to reduce overcrowding in California's state prisons. To accomplish this, the state on Oct. 1, 2011 adopted a realignment program shifting authority over certain categories of offenders and parolees to local counties instead of the state. The categories are known as the 3'N's: non-serious, non-violent, and non-sexual, though not all offenders in these categories are eligible. Offenders convicted of nearly 60 voter-defined 'high risk' penal code violations that technically fall under the three 'N' categories are required by law to serve their time in state prison.

Since Oct. 1, 2011 offenders sentenced under the applicable three 'N' categories will be either remanded to county jails or paroled. Parolees in these categories, including current state prison inmates who are paroled in the future, must now report to county probation authorities instead of state authorities. No inmates currently in state prison will be transferred to county jails or released early.

Joining the Senator for the hour-long forum will be several experts offering a view of and answering questions about realignment from their unique perspectives. Terri McDonald, Under Secretary of Operations for the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) will offer a look at realignment from a state corrections system perspective. Offering a local county perspective will be Lieutenant Allen Castellanos, head of Operations at the Cerritos Sheriff Station.

Joining the panel to share a fiscal and analytic view will be Drew Soderborg, Senior Fiscal and Policy analyst at the non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office.

The event will be streamed live on Senator Lowenthal's website at sd27.senate.ca.gov...and Senator Lowenthal's office invites residents to visit his website for more information or to submit a question for the panel at any time.

In August 2011, L.A. County District Attorney Steve Cooley, told the L.A. County Board of Supervisors that he believes realignment will result in increased crimes in L.A. County and statewide:

Realignment will result in early release on steroids...[C]onvicted felons sentenced to state prison...will be housed locally under Realignment...In 2009, approximately 8,000 Los Angeles County defendants sentenced to state prison would now be required to be housed locally in county jail. In 2010, approximately 7,400 Los Angeles County defendants sentenced to state prison would now be required to be housed locally...Realignment will result in thousands upon thousands of convicted felons released to our communities with minimal supervision."

...Public safety should be government's highest priority. Realignment jeopardizes the fundamental right of the people to a safe and just society...[C]riminals will escape adequate punishment" [and] "those who view Realignment as a positive development are not just overly optimistic, they are flat wrong. We are in the awful position of having to wait for further crime and substantial victimization to be proven right.

[For details on DA Cooley's testimony via letter to the Board of Supervisors, click here]

Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell has separately indicated that he believes realignment will likely mean additional challenges for LBPD officers. Chief McDonnell told LATimes.com in October 2011 that the realignment plan [LATimes.com article text] could force his department to dramatically reassess its crime-fighting strategies. With an influx of released felons, he said, it could become difficult to focus on smaller, quality-of-life crimes. "We are going to have to play it by ear," Chief McDonnell was quoted as saying by LATimes.com.

Speaking on Art Levine's StraightTalkTV.com show in February 2012, LB City Prosecutor Doug Haubert said realignment "is related to the broader issue of police manning."

Chief Jim McDonnell and police chiefs throughout the state are very concerned about the release of these felons to county jurisdiction, and then the subsequent release of other bad people at a time when manning levels are at the lowest levels in years. Realignment could not have come at a worse time. At my office, we had 21 prosecutors four years ago. We are now down to 15 prosecutors. The police department has been cut. They’re doing the best that they can with the resources they’re given but at some point, we are going to hit a crisis.

Separate from but arguably related to the upcoming town hall on realignment is a political reality: Sen. Lowenthal is simultaneously a candidate for Congress in a newly drawn OC-LB Congressional seat. The field of candidates in that race includes LB Councilman Gary DeLong...who voted to balance City Hall's budget in part by cutting 140 officers in September 2009 and 2010 (Council votes 9-0) and voted to cut an additional 10 officers (6-3, Schipske, Gabelich, Neal dissenting) in September 2011 after realignment was announced and pending.