Redlands PD Chief Calls Town Meeting: Talk Prison Realignment, Crime Trends

Redlands Police Chief Mark A. Garciahas called a "town hall meeting" to discuss prison realignment and current crime trends in Redlands.

The meeting is scheduled at 6 p.m. Wednesday Sept. 26 at the Ayres Hotel, 1015 W. Colton Ave. in Redlands.

Garcia will take questions from the public at the meeting, and from the Redlands Police Department Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/RedlandsPoliceDepartment, according to city spokesman Carl Baker.

"Questions will be answered live online as time permits," Baker said in a statement.

Baker summed up Garcia's concerns about prison realignment:

Under the State of California's prison realignment, low-level, non-violent offenders are released from prison to the supervision of local law enforcement rather than state parole agents. Realignment was implemented by the State in October 2011 as an effort to relieve state prison overcrowding by transferring certain offenders to county and other local jurisdictions. Realignment has created new challenges for local law enforcement agencies as criminals with high recidivism rates are released into local communities with no additional funding to effectively supervise them.

"This taxes law enforcement resources, which are already stretched to the limits and jeopardizes the safety of our communities," Garcia added.

The meeting is planned in the Ayres Hotel conference rooom.

"All are welcome and there is no cost to attend," Baker said. "Spanish translation will be available both at the meeting and online."

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