Budget Cuts To Law Enforcement Draw Ire.... Thurs. July 7, 2011.... By Chris Levister Published in BlackVoiceNews

Budget Cuts To Law Enforcement Draw Ire

THURSDAY, 07 JULY 2011 05:11

Attorney General Kamala Harris warns of "Gang-and-Drug Armageddon"

By Chris Levister –

In the early morning hours of June 7, 2011, an elite U.S., state and local multi-jurisdictional task force staged Operation "Bright Lights Big City", a back-breaking raid on members of the notorious Varrio Latino gang Azusa 13, they say conspired to rid the Southern California city of its Black residents. "It was hell on earth," recalls a Riverside mother of three (name withheld) who in 2007 escaped Azusa and the gang law enforcement say is tied to the Mexican Mafia.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris looks over some of the guns seized in a six-week sweep conducted by agents from the Department of Justice, 1,200 firearms were seized including one from a Azusa, California gang targeting African Americans.

Azusa Police Chief Robert Garcia said Azusa 13's attacks included scrawling racial epithets on African-Americans' homes and street violence that last year targeted a Black high school student walking home from a track meet.

According to the latest U.S. Census information, about 64% of the city's 47,000 residents are Hispanic and nearly 4% are Black.

"This is not the first Southern California gang accused of racially-motivated attacks. The Avenues in Highland Park, Varrio Hawaiian Gardens and Florencia 13 in South L.A. are all Latino gangs whose members have faced state or federal civil rights charges for attacking and killing African- Americans," said state Attorney General Kamala Harris.

The Azusa 13 gang adopted a racist principle "that members of the gang will harass and use violence to drive African- Americans out of the City of Azusa and would use violence in order to prevent African-Americans from moving into the City," according to U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr.

The kind of multi-jurisdictional cooperation seen in the Azusa 13 raid is in serious jeopardy Harris warned Friday, following the passage of an $86 million budget signed by Governor Jerry Brown last week without a single GOP vote. We're looking at "Gang-and-Drug Armageddon."

Harris and members of other state and local public safety agencies came out swinging after a Democrat led Legislature passed and an on time budget that would see a $35.8 million reduction in its law enforcement budget next fiscal year and another $35.2 million in the year after that.

A $71 million cut to the Division of Law Enforcement budget will "handcuff" the state Department of Justice's ability to fight gang violence and disrupt the flow of drugs, guns and human beings across our border, Harris said in a statement.

"The cuts will likely eliminate 55 state-led task forces that coordinate the response to our growing gang problem. The Bureau of Investigation and Intelligence and Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement will also likely be eliminated, as well as the investigative capacities of the newly formed Mortgage Fraud Strike Task Force. All told, several hundred agents, investigators, and other law enforcement positions will be lost, as will the ability to prosecute cases like these," said Harris.

That $71 million cut could cost the DOJ another $40 million in matching federal funds over the next two years, said Division of Law Enforcement Director Larry Wallace.

"We could be looking at cuts in excess of $100 million," he said. "It's unprecedented, unsafe and unsustainable to the Department of Justice and it will greatly handcuff California law enforcement. We could lose up to 600 law enforcement positions if we take this hit, and possibly have to eliminate the bureau of narcotic enforcement and the bureau of investigations and intelligence."

The president of the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association -- who happens to work as a DOJ special agent -- Alan Barcelona accused Democrats of welcoming drug gangs to California and called the budget cut "absolutely astounding."

"At a time when our local law enforcement agencies are being stretched to the point of layoffs due to their own budget problems, they do not have the fiscal capacity or the authority to handle the responsibilities of coordinating multijurisdictional task forces to stop the flood of drugs and gangs from flowing into our state," said Barcelona.

Also unhappy: California Chief Justice Tani Cantil- Sakauye, who watched her court system lose $200 million in annual funding in March, then found out Monday that Democrats are aiming for another $150 million cut -- and are going to delay $310 million in court construction costs by putting those projects on hold for a year.

"I am completely dismayed and gravely concerned about how the proposed budget cuts will affect the judicial branch and the public we serve. The cumulative impact of the cuts to the courts in the last three years will have the effect of court closures, fewer services to court users, and the specter of more furloughs and layoffs for employees.

LOCAL IMPACT

State law enforcement officials aren't the only one's hopping mad over the budget cuts to public safety. "We're looking at impending disaster," warns San Bernardino District Attorney Mike Ramos. The district attorney's office would lose $2.1 million, leading to the loss of 33 positions. Ramos said he already has a backlog of 3,000 cases that he needs more staff to tackle.

The probation department would lose 77 positions in the budget. This also would be due to the vehicle tax cut, which will result in decreased programs for juvenile offenders and affect adult probation programs such as domestic violence, sex offender and gang units, Chief Probation Officer Michelle Scray said.

The Sheriff's Department has scrapped plans for a new crime lab and is using asset-forfeiture funds to avoid layoffs.

Riverside County is also bracing for more cuts and layoffs.

Sheriff Stan Sniff said public safety departments, including the sheriff, district attorney and fire, face cuts from 3 percent to 5 percent in his recommended budget.

Other departments will see, on average, 19 percent reductions.

Sniff has already sent out layoff notices. If he has to meet even lower budget projections, the first 100 layoffs would take place July 13 followed by another 100 on Aug. 10.

A group of city police chiefs wrote in early June that reductions in unincorporated patrols will increase the need for mutual aid at a time when cities also are struggling financially.

Speaking on behalf of law enforcement agencies and organizations across the state, AG Harris called on lawmakers to restore the money.

"Public safety is a basic right of all people and a core function of our government. For that reason I call on Governor Brown and the Legislature to immediately restore adequate funding to California law enforcement."

Corona: City gives 15 Officers Notice... (The Press-Enterprise) June 21, 2011 by Leslie Parrilla

CORONA: City gives 15 officers notice

		Download story podcast

06:39 AM PDT on Tuesday, June 21, 2011

By LESLIE PARRILLA
The Press-Enterprise

Corona police issued layoff notices to 15 patrol officers Monday in an effort to shave roughly $4 million from the city's budget over the next three years.

Officials said the nearly 10 percent reduction in the force is the largest reduction in police manpower in over two decades.

Corona Police Chief Richard Madory said the officers' final work day is June 30.

The move came as a surprise to Madory, who was told by city officials Thursday to begin sending out notices after salary negotiations had stalled after several months.

City officials would like to continue talks but for now have decided layoffs were a difficult, but only, option.

"I was, as many are, shocked that we were going to have to do this. I'm shocked and saddened. This is very unfortunate," Madory said.

Corona Police Officers Association President Jim Auck said he was baffled by the city's decision to order layoffs.

"I'm just flabbergasted," Auck said. "We offered them $3.5 million and they turned it down. We didn't know what they wanted."

Auck said the association is essentially being forced to take salary increases they didn't want and were willing to continue deferring, but the city offered different cuts that would have cost officers more than they were willing to pay in the long run.

City officials said some of the proposal included conditions they were not certain were legal.

The cut to Corona's force represents about 10 percent of the department's 164 sworn officers and about 21 percent of the roughly 70 officers in the patrol division.

Recent hires

The officers given notice were the most recent hires to the patrol division and were hired within the last four years, Madory said.

Madory said he plans to fill Corona's vacancies with officers from other departments and on special assignments to prevent response times and calls for service from suffering.

"We'll have to see how that impacts other functions of the department," Madory said. "We'll make sure there's enough people in the patrol function to fill that void. Fifteen people is a lot of people."

In 2008 Corona Police Department took a big hit when losing 24 positions, but no active officers were laid off. Nearly half of those jobs were unfilled, including four sworn officer positions.

Corona Mayor Stan Skipworth said the city's needs to save some $4 million over the next three years.

He had expected that money to be saved through salary negotiations with the Corona Police Officers Association, but conversations between the city and the labor group took an unexpected turn.

"I thought we were making tremendous progress," Skipworth said. "We had the sudden change. It's very disappointing."

Labor negotiators made a final salary offer that would save the city about $1.1 million over the next three years, Skipworth said.

"That was something we couldn't accept at the time," he said.

The offer would have saved about one-third of the savings the city needed, $4 million, Skipworth said.

The city had agreed to a five percent salary raises to begin this fiscal year and 4 percent next year, Skipworth said. But the city wanted to defer those increases, causing negotiations to reach a sticking point.

The department will receive the raises, but that means layoffs must happen to recoup the savings.

He hopes the two groups can return to the bargaining table and avoid layoffs but for now the positions remain cut. "This was an extremely difficult decision," Skipworth said.

INLAND REACTION

Riverside Police Department spokesman Sgt. Cliff Mason said laying off that many officers from his department would certainly affect response times and calls for service. He could not remember any Riverside officers being laid off in his 23 years with the department.

"If we were given notice that we had to drop 15 officers from patrol, that would have a huge impact on our ability to effectively police the city of Riverside," Mason said.

Earlier this month, Colton Police Department let go of six police officers.

Reach Leslie Parrilla at 951-368-9644 or lparrilla@PE.com

Gov. Brown releases plan for California Pension Changes.. (Associated Press) by Adam Weintraub... March 31, 2011

Brown releases plan for Calif. pension changes

By ADAM WEINTRAUB

The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO

Gov. Jerry Brown released a 12-point proposal to revamp California's public-employee pensions Thursday, drawing immediate outcry from state workers complaining that it asks too much and from Republican lawmakers who said it doesn't go far enough.

The proposals target practices that critics say drive up costs for taxpayers and provide public-sector workers with far more generous benefits than private workers receive.

The package includes specific bill language to limit pension spiking, the practice of boosting pension benefits with a big raise in the last year before a worker retires. Instead, pensions would be based on a three-year average of base pay, not overtime or unused vacation time.

It also would ban retroactive pension benefit increases, "holidays" when employers do not have to contribute to pensions, cash payments to raise pension benefits and paying benefits to workers who have been convicted of an employment-related felony. Brown's package also would prohibit the state and local governments from paying an employee's share of pension contributions.

Several other changes are still being developed, Brown said. They include a cap on benefits, limits on employees returning to government work after they retire and a shift toward a hybrid plan in which employees would be responsible for part of their retirement planning.

Brown, a Democrat, won election last year in part on a platform of pension reform, and much of that platform is reflected in Thursday's proposal.

Republican lawmakers had pushed during budget negotiations for more extensive pension changes, but both sides say the talks broke down last week over other issues such as a spending cap and tax changes.

"We're pleased to see that the governor is interested in pension reform," said Sabrina Lockhart, spokeswoman for Assembly Republican leader Connie Conway, R-Tulare.

Nevertheless, the said Republican lawmakers are unhappy that Brown is looking to run it through the Legislature, which could easily change the rules in the future, rather than put the plan before voters, where it would be much harder to undo.

"There are more protections for the taxpayers if the voters approve," Lockhart said.

Senate Republican leader Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, said the GOP supports most of Brown's proposals but wants the public to vote on them and doesn't believe a voluntary hybrid pension system will work.

"Governor Brown's proposal assumes public employees will volunteer for lower benefits, which ignores reality," Dutton said in a statement.

Public employee groups said state workers already have made pension concessions while negotiating new contracts that have saved hundreds of millions of dollars.

Brown's proposals "fly in the face of collective bargaining law and amount to a breach of agreements that state government has made with millions of workers in California," said Dave Low, chairman of a coalition of public employee unions. "California's policymakers need to take a careful look at the billions of dollars in tax breaks for the wealthy in our state budget before they launch an assault on California's middle class."

Published: Thursday, March 31, 2011 18:17 PDT

© 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.