San Joaquin County Crime & Justice Digest

The City of Manteca is considering stiffening penalties for participating in illegal sideshows and street races, including impounding vehicles.

Legislators are pushing ahead with a retail theft bill package in their continued opposition of Proposition 36 — a November ballot measure backed by law enforcement groups and Republicans (and some Democrats) that would roll back parts of 2014’s Prop. 47.

In a meeting on August 1, San Joaquin County Supervisors discussed the consequences of the 2014 Proposition 47, which reclassified several crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, and voted to support its repeal and replacement with Proposition 36 on the November ballot.

“This doesn’t build public trust. Where is the evidence?” said Jeff Wenninger, a former Los Angeles Police lieutenant who oversaw use of force investigations.

The annual Sacramento Police Department military equipment policy and usage report is before the city council for review, citing 324 incidents involving use of military equipment between May 2023 and April 2024.

California failed to ban private detention centers. Now, it’s focusing on their working conditions, for immigrants who toil for $1 a day.

California State Hospitals can bill patients for the care they receive during confinement. The charges often run in the tens of thousands of dollars, putting vulnerable people in debt for years.

California courts have long upheld below-minimum wage pay for prison inmates working a wide range of jobs. A 2024 ballot measure that would ban forced labor could alter those decisions.

In their July 2 meeting, the Tracy City Council approved funding of legal representation for three council members named in a lawsuit disputing the legality of a retroactive pay raise for City Attorney Bijal Patel.

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, California’s Democratic leaders moved fast to shore up reproductive rights: They persuaded voters to enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution, approved a dozen bills strengthening abortion protections and passed a law in May to enable Arizona doctors to temporarily provide abortion services for their patients in California.

In three rulings the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a body blow to the federal bureaucracy. From healthcare to climate to workers’ rights, California’s rules often go farther.

Stockton Police reported a local woman was injured by a falling bullet fire on July 4.

Assemblymember James Gallagher speaks during the floor session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on June 13, 2024. Photo by Cristian Gonzalez for CalMatters

California advanced reparations efforts with an initial $12 million in funding included in the 2024-2025 state budget.

Mayor Gary Singh of Manteca says the city will not change its homeless response strategy following the recent US Supreme Court Grants Pass v Johnson ruling.

The ruling by the conservative court majority means cities no longer are prohibited from punishing homeless people for camping if they have nowhere else to go.

The Supreme Court 6-3 ruling in the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson case found that the fining and arresting of homeless people does not violate Eighth Amendment rights.

EdSource reports that police are dispatched thousands of times per school day across California.

The City of Manteca approved a contract with Ronin Protection Solutions for private security service for various locations in the city.

California lawmakers voted to offer an official apology for the state’s role in supporting slavery and moved several reparations bills but let others die.

Pending legislation would lift requirements for California’s doctors to report all domestic abuse cases to police. The Assembly’s three physicians had different opinions.

The City of Manteca has deployed additional license plate readers and red light cameras to fight crime and reduce traffic incidents.

At many universities across the country, graduation for the Class of 2024 will feel more like making it through airport security than a procession through a free-flowing campus green or a cheering stadium crowd.

There are questions over the arrest of Stockton Unified trustee AngelAnn Flores.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has charged three East Bay police officers with involuntary manslaughter in the 2021 death of 26-year-old Mario Gonzalez.

Alejandro N. Mayorkas, a Cuban immigrant who grew up in California, is the first U.S. Cabinet official impeached in nearly 150 years.

A majority of the guns found were loaded, according to the TSA.

Thirty years after prisoners with disabilities sued the state of California and 25 years after a federal court first ordered accommodations, a judge found that state prison and parole officials still are not doing enough to help deaf and blind prisoners.

A judge ruled GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene can move forward with their lawsuit against two California cities where rallies were canceled.

California prison officials announced they will move the last 457 condemned prisoners out of San Quentin's death row by summer. They will be transferred to other state prisons and housed in the general population.

After receiving bipartisan support, California Senate Bill 400, legislation intended to increase law enforcement transparency, was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Proposition E broadens police surveillance powers and Proposition F mandates drug screening and treatment for people receiving county welfare benefits who are suspected of drug use.