A California sheriff criticized politicians for caving to what he called a "far-left agenda" that is fueling rising crime across parts of the Golden State.
"We're just in a complete state of dysfunction," Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told Fox News. "The far left is 100% anti-police, anti-sheriff, anti-public safety, pro-criminal. They are 100% pro-criminal."
Bianco said politicians have chipped away at public safety in California for about a decade, starting with Assembly Bill 109, which transferred responsibility for some inmates and parolees from state authorities to county jails and probation officers.
Then voters approved Prop 47 in 2014, which changed crimes like theft of goods under $950 and drug possession from felonies to misdemeanors. It reduced California’s prison population by more than 13,000 inmates.
Two years later, Prop 57 enabled inmates to shorten their sentences through good behavior.
"There is no political will in this state to get ahold of crime," Bianco said.
Riverside County spans more than 7,000 square miles — larger than the state of Connecticut — southeast of Los Angeles.
"All we see on TV is just more and more violent crimes and vehicle takeovers and thefts," Bianco said. "People are afraid to go outside of their houses. They're afraid to let their kids go to the park. They're afraid to let their kids walk to school."
Crime ticked up in California following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic — violent offenses increased about 5.6% statewide from 2020 to 2021 and property crimes increased around 2% over the same time frame. But both figures remained far below historic levels seen during the gang wars of the early 1990s, data from the California Department of Justice shows.
