By Lt. Joseph Pemberton
City of Eastvale, Co-Chief of Police

Eastvale – In a nutshell, Proposition 47 permits resentencing for several convicted felons who are currently in custody, and reclassifies existing felonies as misdemeanors for specified offenses that are currently charged in our county. These resentencing and reclassification changes are not available for persons who are required to register per Penal Code (PC) Section 290, or have prior convictions for offenses listed in PC Section 667(e)(2)(c)(iv). These changes take effect immediately.

The theft offense of shoplifting (PC 459.2) is changed to punish commercial burglary as a misdemeanor if the offense occurred during business hours, and if the suspect entered the commercial building with the intent to take property that does not exceed $950 in value.

Furthermore, Subsection (b) of PC 459.2 precludes charging a defendant with both burglary and theft of the same property. We will no longer be able to charge a qualifying offender with felony burglary if the defendant enters a store during business hours to steal merchandise with a value of less than $950.

PC Sections 473 and 476 regarding Forgery will be amended to punish violations only as misdemeanors; however, if the defendant is also convicted of identity theft in violation of PC Section 530.5, neither conviction will be reduced to misdemeanor.

PC Section 490.2 regarding Grand Theft (catch-all) will take effect to ensure that all grand theft violations – including those outlined in Section 487 – will only be punished as a misdemeanor. As a result, even grand theft of a firearm will no longer qualify as a strike offense, assuming the defendant is eligible for Proposition 47 relief (i.e., has no disqualifying priors or registration requirements).

PC Section 496 regarding Receiving Stolen Property will be amended to punish this crime as a felony if the receipt of the stolen property exceeds a value of $950.

PC Section 666 regarding Petty Theft with Prior Conviction is amended to prohibit felony punishment for any repeat theft offender, unless the defendant is ineligible for relief as a result of a disqualifying prior conviction.

For drug offenses, simple possession offenses in violation of Health &Safety Code sections 11350, 11377, and 11357 will only be punishable as misdemeanors unless the defendant has a disqualifying conviction listed in PC Section 667(e)(2)(c)(iv), or are required to register per PC 290.

In response to Proposition 47, for the City of Eastvale Police Department it will be business as usual. We are still going to enforce these violations and use proactive, targeted enforcement to arrest offenders and get them into the court system. In order to achieve this, we will maintain high visibility around our City and increased patrols around our shopping centers and commercial areas to help keep the community safe during the holidays.

This year our City will also see an increase in Police Officers on bike patrols around our shopping centers that will specifically be looking to enforce many of these restructured theft offenses. This will allow our Officers to be more visible and accessible to the public, and help dispel any concerns that these changes will affect the delivery of our Police services.