Santa Barbara County supervisors received another update on their plan to create equity in our criminal justice system.
What does that mean in actuality? They believe criminals are first and foremost victims!
Hence, the chief aim of the program, with few exceptions, is to keep as many criminals, both accused and convicted, out of jail. This has to do with the premise that our criminal justice system is a product of racism.
Compounding this problem is the fact that our state downgraded felonies to misdemeanors and misdemeanors to citations. What that means is that all California crime statistics have been skewed to deceive and delude the public regarding actual crime rates and the dire situation we find ourselves in. Our local source of this problem is woefully magnified by this woke county supervisor’s declaration:
“We acknowledge that longstanding decades of repeated individual and systemic racism and violence against People of Color are contributing to a climate of intense sadness, fear and outrage throughout the nation and in our Santa Barbara County community. Harmful consequences over many generations have roots in historic, structural racism that have created societal barriers to opportunities, resources, and wealth, resulting in disproportionate damage to Black, Latinx and other Communities of Color. We seek to reduce racial disparities across our law enforcement and criminal justice systems. All residents need to have trust that our justice system is unbiased and that our County is committed to equitably advancing the safety and well-being of all community members.
“As County leaders with a moral obligation to promote equal protection and equal justice, we must sharpen our focus and harden our resolve to implement programs that are fair, just and address racial bias throughout the criminal justice system. In this national moment of reckoning, we join with our colleagues, partners, collaborators, and the entire Santa Barbara County community to stand with our Black and Latinx communities, and others who find themselves on the fringe of society, to denounce racism in all its forms.”
Meanwhile, the county erected a security gate at the entrance of their building, like that which you use to enter the secure area of an airport, complete with buckets for your personal belongings, a hands-over-your-head X-ray of your body, and a little wand over your booty to finish you off! For the time being, you can keep your shoes on.
There is only one reason they would implement this system. Officials don’t feel safe in the halls of government. Why is that? Simply put, the supervisors are confounded hypocrites.
For more than a decade, every board meeting was protected by an armed sheriff’s deputy. But our woke supervisors wanted the deputy removed because having a deputy in uniform could be considered threatening to people of color, presumably. What to do? Well, the meeting is now guarded by a security professional in plain clothes, in addition to the new security gate manned by uniformed guards no less. I feel better now; how about you?
Here is a shout out to the “public servants” in their stucco tower: If you don’t feel safe with armed guards patrolling your building, how do you think we feel?
Are we racists because we want criminals arrested and locked up until they pay their debt to society?
There are thousands of gang members in our community and various other organized theft rings, not to mention homeless people, committing crimes every day against the people you are supposed to be representing. The criminal justice ideology driving your agenda treats every criminal as a victim, but your behavior tells us you yourselves don’t feel safe in the community you were elected to serve and protect. Maybe you should focus on that moral obligation.
Andy Caldwell is the COLAB executive director and host of “The Andy Caldwell Show,” airing 3 to 5 p.m. weekdays on KZSB AM 1290, the News-Press radio station.
