Geo DuarteBy Geo Duarte
Around 2:00 PM Thursday a scanner call came in regarding a subject who had taken liquor from a business on the 1100 block of State Street.
The subject had previously repeated the same behavior a couple days earlier.
Not sure if it was the same call, but apparently a suspect was found pretending to be asleep in their car and the license came back expired out of Texas.The suspect was transported and booked at Santa Barbara County Jail.
Wait…. I thought shoplifting was perfectly legal in CA and even “glorified,” right FOND?
Please don’t feed the psychos.
Agreed, no reason to pick fights on the board. Except to make it obvious that’s what you enjoy here.
YIN – and what did your comment intend to do?
Yes the old “no you”
A timeless bit by SACJON
Ah there he is….. fun.
Sac- YES. Give them a week or two in county and some community service. There needs to be SOME consequence! Maybe, if they’re new at this, it will be the kick in the butt they need.
Sac- I doubt it’s “glorified”, but I bet they’ve already been released and won’t end up doing any time. Let’s follow it. I’ll bet you lunch.
OG – I doubt they’ll do much time for stealing booze. Do you think they should? I mean, how many jails do folks want to build?
“I mean, how many jails do folks want to build?”
How about enough to keep criminals off the street. Crime is out of control.
OG – you have any idea how much a “week or two in county” costs us tax payers? Any idea how big county is? They stole some booze. A night in the tank or 2 in lock up with a court date, fine and/or community service. We can’t afford or have the space to lock up every single shoplifter for an extended stay.
GERBT – jail every single person who commits a crime? Think about that one.
He’s trying to encourage you to take another angle. Seems obvious.
CA state law holds that stealing merchandise worth $950 or less is just a misdemeanor, which means that law enforcement probably won’t bother to investigate, and if they do, prosecutors will let it go, which is why police don’t bother.
Senate Bill 553 basically bans retail staff from stopping thieves stealing from their stores.
Target issuing a statement in November blaming “organized retail crime” for an eye-watering $400 million loss in its profits in 2022.
Wonder why the police decided to do something in this case, is there more to the story? .
SBLETS – not entirely true. It makes it a wobbler – could be a felony or misdemeanor. Up to the prosecutor.
SBLETS – additionally, in Texas, shoplifting is only a misdemeanor unless it’s over $2,500. So, say what you want about the laws, but there’s that.
https://www.findlaw.com/state/texas-law/texas-shoplifting-laws.html
SBLETS – Theft of $950 or less is a misdemeanor unless cops can prove the suspect entered with the intent to steal. Then it’s felony burglary. SB 553 simply prevents an employer from having a (policy) that (requires) their employees to make (contact) with shoplifters. I think employers can allow their employee’s to chase down a shoplifter but they can’t make them chase a shoplifter. If I owned a retail business I’d tell the employee never to confront a shoplifter. IMO too much liability if employee is injured/killed.
So basically, shoplifting repeatedly then makes it Felony Burglary. Because the intent to enter and steal, becomes apparent.
It’s a wobbler depending upon who did the stealing.
Reality is most are catch & release if the police do anything.
Sacjon
Have you read the TX law closely? Breaking it down, simply, your second theft offense of less than $100 can be 180 days and a fine. that is a hefty misdemeanor a less than $100 second offense. No one can call that a revolving door. Sacjon, not speaking to you directly on this part here, Too many people never read into the details on this “Texas has a shoplifting 0f $2500 for felony charges” retort used by the left, but the retort overlooks the fact that misdemeanor second offenses in TX are often punished more harshly than CA felony second theft offenses
If there was burglary at 2pm the charge probably isn’t shoplifting. If the first crime against this business happened two days prior it is likely the shop owner asked that the person be given written notice of trespass to be signed as a condition of release that the person understood they were no longer welcome on the premises and would be charged with criminal trespass if they entered the property again. People think burglary is breaking a window, kicking in a door, but if you have signed a form that says you are aware you are not to enter business A, and you go into business A anyway and steal, it is a wobbler between trespassing and burglary. If you go for the hat trick and do a third visit and leave with the malt liquor without paying, it would be burglary. The DA can still opt to release on own recognizance and a smart person would go steal from a store that has not yet issued them a trespass notice. There are plenty of liquor stores
As I keep saying: things are going better and better in Ca and S.B.
Crime? No consequence!
“We just can’t AFFORD to put retribution on those repeat and SICK criminals”.
So let them do, and guess what: they’ll just commit more and more CRIMES and more and more VIOLENT crime.
But that is, clearly, what this society now wants and longs for !
Anyone who is claiming crimes like this shouldn’t involve an appropriate penalty simply because its too costly to taxpayers, well, you’re logic stinks – if there are no consequences to a crime, you’re only going to encourage this stuff. Don’t you get that? We all learned this stuff as kids, didn’t you?
Sac- Yeah it’s all good until they steal from you. A business, who cares, right? If there’s not room for all the criminals, then THAT’S the other problem. Why is there so much crime that we don’t have room and why aren’t we building more?
BASIC – curious…. how many days/nights should someone be imprisoned (in a jail overflowing with rapists, murderers, etc waiting trial) for stealing a bottle of booze or a 12 pack?
“you’re logic”??
OG – it’s not “all good” at all. Theft is bad, never said it wasn’t. My question though is, how long do you think someone should be locked up for stealing a few beers (for example)? This is petty theft. You really want to build more jails just so we can imprison people for a long time for petty theft? How we going to pay for the jails and housing all these “dangerous” inmates? You willing to pay more taxes for that? Really?
My daughter was in a Trader Joes’ in Seattle and stood frozen and shocked as a man filled a huge bag with wine. He just walked out. She asked the cashier and she said there is nothing they can do and that the man does it often. It happened here at Home Depot.
Extreme liberal policies are DOOMING this country! It is NOT okay to STEAL>
That’s simple. Not too many cities are red, as red folks are scared by other people and less educated.
@SZQ – you’re not very well versed on the facts.
The ten states with the highest crime rate are:
1. District of Columbia – 999.8 per 100k
2. Alaska – 837.8 per 100k
3. New Mexico – 778.3 per 100k
4. Tennessee – 672.7 per 100k
5. Arkansas – 671.9 per 100k
6. Arizona – 654.8 per 100k
7. Louisiana – 639.4 per 100k
8. Missouri – 542.7 per 100k
9. South Carolina – 530.7 per 100k
10. South Dakota – 501.4 per 100k
NOW… how many are red states and how many are blue?
Fact check: “The ten states with the highest crime rate?” This statement is vague. What type of crime? Homicide? Shoplifting? All types of crime? Please provide a link to this data. No political agenda here – just wanting the facts.
“your saying”??
So what your saying, @1:28, is that the areas with the most crime, cities, are mostly blue. And as you say the “less educated” are scared of other people and aren’t in cities, how do the student test scores compare in and outside of cities ?
Now do cities. How many are red, how many are blue?
Gladly Vin. Here is the link: https://wisevoter.com/state-rankings/crime-rate-by-state/
The list is based on the highest crime rate per capita. It’s including all types of crime, but the site also breaks it down by different crime categories.
My point is, this is nuanced and stating the increase is due to “extreme liberal policies” is not true.
VOICE – why are you so obsessed with red vs. blue, right vs. left? It’s literally almost all you ever talk about. Funny, because you also complain when people bring politics into something. Weird.
It is interesting that those who want to go light on the crime are pointing fingers at law-abiding citizens, whilst accusing those who want to uphold the law as losers. Comment after comment directed at commenters who simply want us to be safe from crime. “Don’t build too many jails for those who commit crimes day-in and day-out because it costs us toooooooo much money!” You can’t make this stuff up. Simply read the serial commenters comments….let’s let the thugs run the show is what they are saying….give up OUR rights and safety to protect the guilty mayhem makers. Makes no sense. Good for you who are sticking up for the rest of us and sick of those who prefer lawlessness just so they can “feel good” about themselves. No wonder businesses and people are moving out of the places that once were wonderful: Hello San Francisco…..Hola Portland….Aloha Seattle. Giving up the store is NOT okay.
BABY – sorry if I was mean but what did I “accuse” you of? And “light on crime?” A night or 2 in lock up for stealing alcohol is “light on crime?” Ok, what’s your sentence?
Baby, do you really think that jailing people for non violent crimes works?
I doubt anyone is going to argue against jailing people who are a threat to others’ safety or can cause significant economic loss, we all want murderers and rapists to be removed from society.
Try and think about this rationally. We have limited resources. Are those resources best spent putting non violent offenders in jail or prison knowing that they probability of their becoming repeat offenders shortly after release is extremely high? Of course not.
If you had a choice between spending 60k to imprison a non-violent drug offender for a year, vs. spending 30k to provide services to people battling drug abuse and keeping more than one of them off drugs, employed and out of prison, wouldn’t you prefer that?
Wouldn’t you prefer a course of action that is going to succeed in terms of reducing crime?
Of course you would. Unfortunately, people are so driven by fear that they make irrational choices and when you mix in a justice system that is punitive and not truly interested rehabilitation, we get a revolving door of criminals on the street, back in prison, back on the street, and on and on.
I’d be happy not to incarcerate people for petty crimes People can be given public service hours, drug tests, alcohol tests by a judge, but most people would require housing and cash to start over.
maybe the sentence would be to choose the following:
option #1 at 84HRS a week for 4 weeks with low security housing, food and released with a $2000 housing and food voucher to only be used with supplied verified ID
option #2 would primarily appeal to the people with jobs. $850 fee for ankle monitor, ankle monitor, 16 HRS a week, for a 21 weeks, no criminal activity, job attendance and pay stub records.
I understand his the misses me or law for theft is written
PC 459.5 shoplifting is stealing items valued at under $950 and a misdemeanor crime. PC 459.5 shoplifting is always a misdemeanor crime and punishable by up to six months in a county jail and fine up to $1,000, unless the defendant has one of more prior convictions.
The real world application is catch & release for most.
All thumbs!
I understand what the text of law states as written.
Real world application is the way the law is applied. Catch & release.
‘You reap what you sow’. It’s an old saying. If you let people get away with a crime without ANY consequences, that’s a recipe for failure. If you want to allow crime by arguing that we don’t have the resources to “imprison people for a long time for petty theft” (Sac), I disagree with you completely. No one’s talking long sentences. How about a night or two at least in jail? There’s room. Or if not, heck they can go to your house for a couple nights. Take them in. That’ll show em. Hell, I’m not an attorney but it seems to me if you allow crime at any level you’re putting society as a whole in trouble. And that’s what we’re seeing.
BASIC – interesting. You were able to say something I never said AND agree with me all in the same comment.
Never said ” let people get away with a crime without ANY consequences.” Nope. Not once. I don’t think ANYone said that.
I did say, though, as you probably did not read…. ” A night in the tank or 2 in lock up with a court date, fine and/or community service. ”
We’ve been over this dozens of times:
Crime rates are high in red states, true
Crime rates in blue cities within those red states is the primary driver, also true.
I will use the table provided to illustrate my point. Washington DC
Another two illustrations would be to point to New Orleans, LA and Jackson, Mississippi.
This was a good counterpoint about people in red states are uneducated that wasn’t addressed:
“[H]ow do the student test scores compare in and outside of cities ?”
I think the reply was a critique of either of a spelling error, or grammatical mistake which shows me the responder had no answer to the substance of the question.
I will agree that most Southern red states have abysmal test scores in both blue cities and red rural areas with high poverty rates. Red state, red cities with low poverty rates trend toward having better schools, which also is the trend in blue cities with low poverty rates. This is why some people fix on poverty as the only driver in poor public school test scores. I would add poor upper management, poor teaching, poor resource allocation, high upper management salaries for people who produce F level test scores as secondary drivers. The children are presumed innocent, it is the adults that are failing them and still getting a paycheck.
Most large blue cities have abysmal test scores, and are lower percentage-wise than an F. Precincts in suburban areas surrounding those blue cities often have much higher scores, as do the very wealthy blue districts. This can be illustrated locally by looking at how well the wealthier blue districts of Cold Spring and Montecito Union, Hope School district do on their test scores vs. SB Unified
Most Southern red states have abysmal test scores in both blue cities and red rural areas with high poverty rates. Red state, red cities with low poverty rates trend toward having better schools
(we here in SB have above average test scores compared to the state F level called ” average”. We regularly applaud our schools for having a 10% higher score than an “F minus” because we have straight “F” score.)
The laws in red states still apply to the blue cities inside those red states. So the argument about “woke policies” and “liberal laws” increasing crime show that in red states that is not true.