A California Republican senator is looking for stricter laws and punishments for porch pirates. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people rely on necessities being dropped off at their front door.
"Ordering their food, ordering their medications, other things that they need to survive, to live," said Sen. Brian Jones, R-El Cajon. "And so, we need to protect them."
Jones is proposing Senate Bill 385 which would give district attorneys the power to prosecute a suspect as a felon subject to prison time if they are caught stealing a package three times within three years.
"The prosecution and law enforcement, their hands are tied in that it doesn't matter how many times somebody steals a package, it's still only a misdemeanor," said Jones. "And in California right now, a misdemeanor is usually a citation. People aren't showing up for their court dates or not paying the misdemeanors, and they just keep on stealing from people's porches."
A similar bill was proposed last year but lawmakers squashed it after they decided it was a bad idea to increase the prison population during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"But this year, it's a new committee chairman, new makeup, new members on the committee of public safety, which we are pretty sure is the committee it'll get referred to," said Jones.
The bill has also been opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union.
In a letter, the ACLU wrote, "We fear that the bill could be used as a pretext for arresting people against whom law enforcement of property owners are explicitly or implicitly biased."
However, Jones stressed that the felony prosecution for a third porch pirate offense is not automatic because the bill leaves that decision up to the DAs.
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