Speaker chair without equal, Pete Leveroni introduced our guest speaker, Kern County District Attorney, Cynthia Zimmer. We should know her by now…right? I mean she has worked at the “DA’s” office for 40 years. I personally worked with Cindy when I was a young street cop, and she was a brand-new DA. She handled plenty of my criminal cases where there were arrests and she was the prosecutor. I can tell ‘ya, she hasn’t changed much. Even though she has entered the political realm as our County DA, she still is passionate about law and order. It is what she is supposed to be, unlike some California and Federal DAs which I know are hardly even recognizable as DAs. It’s frightening today my Breakfast Rotary friends.
It was just that thing that Cindy spoke of, the laxity of leading political figures in California who have swung the pendulum in the opposite direction of justice resulting in the unsafe streets, violence, drug addiction and homelessness that we see daily. Prior to the pendulum swinging, California was a law-and-order territory. Yes, the prison population was up according to Cindy, and those standards were supported by state politicians. One can pull out statistics, and whatever they want to rationalize and make them feel good for a reason to cause change, and that’s exactly what they did. During the Governor Jerry Brown term, reduced state prison sentences for felony crime inmates happened all too often. Violent felony inmates were kept in custody; less violent felony inmates were transferred or returned to county jails; those inmates who were in prison or jail for lesser crimes were returned to the streets. This action was caused and approved by voters in California with Proposition 47 and Assembly Bill 109.Now unless you want to continue being in denial with your head in the sand filtering what you only want to believe, instead of opening your eyes to see these fanciful Pollyanna-ish ideas have consequences, you will not see the damage such decisions make. We caused the homeless situation folks! We see this playout on the state as well as the national level. Unforeseen, has been the increase in the homelessness condition, according to Cindy. She is 100% right. We have never seen this in modern days, and it should not be happening. Personally, my heart goes out to these souls walking our streets, but thanks to misinformation they are alone, and endless amounts of money to homeless centers will not turn the tide, nor on drug abuse, nor on street theft and vandalism. We have done these people an injustice. We can do better, much better.
Cindy, and fellow law and order DAs in California have been feverishly pushing Proposition 36. Prop 36 re-drafts many of the sentencing standards of 47 and 109, administering stronger deterrents in the form of sentencing. One will say, BUT tough penalties don’t stop crime! Well, they do for those who do not want to be locked up! If they don’t case and choose to break the law, Cindy and her staff will send them to Jail (misdemeanor crime inmates) and Prison!
No, Cindy is not insensitive, she is most sensitive! People who commit crimes time and time again need help! For instance, drug addicted convicted people need drug courts, jobs, and hope to pay for their own housing. Mandates and Accountability are a gift to them! When you do not have that, you get what we are seeing now, and if Cindy, and those in leadership don’t make inroads to changing laws we will see it even get worse.
Yes, one can say BUT there are exceptions, some groups may not be treated equally, and there are loopholes for some when Law and Order is applied. Well yes, nothing is perfect, but by and large what you see on the streets is what you get. That is your reality, and it does not look good. Even politicians on the state and national level are gently displaying some signs of moving the flag marker a bit because people are seeing the reality of unsafe streets and are becoming fed up, and of course politicians want the votes. As a suggestion, it is time to raise the standards for all to better our towns, to give others hope, to provide jobs for those who want to work, and available housing they pay for on their own. Give these folks dignity and incentive to build upon, steadily reinforcing them so improve the quality of their lives. Those that lead will set the new standard for those to rise up with them. Cindy’s promotion of Prop. 36 is hope to those on the street and those who are trying to build up better. Thank you, Cindy, for your leadership and course of making Kern County a place we can proudly call home.