Yolo County Crime & Justice Digest

The state Labor Commissioner sometimes struggles to get back pay to workers when it reaches wage theft settlements. It tries social media, TV and hotlines. But money owed to employees is still sitting in state accounts.

The Mercury News guide to the anti-crime and ant-drug dealing measure Proposition 36 on the November ballot.

New Woodland Police Chief Ryan Kinnan was welcomed to the job during a swearing-in ceremony on September 18.

The UC Regents approved campus requests for more tools for UC police months after campus protesters clashed with law enforcement.

Worries about retail theft and fentanyl deaths shaped a November ballot measure that would toughen some criminal penalties. Here are the facts about California crime trends.

For five years, California officials responding to the homelessness crisis had to work around one big restriction imposed by the federal courts: Because they didn’t have enough shelter beds, cities generally couldn’t make homeless camps illegal.

More than two-dozen California cities passed, strengthened or are considering ordinances that penalize people for sleeping outside, after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed cities to crack down.

On August 29, the City of Woodland announced the hiring of Ryan Kinnan, the former City of Auburn Chief of Police.

California Highway Patrol officers received historically high raises in 2022 and 2023, but it continues to face a high vacancy rate of 16%.

In their August 27 meeting the Sacramento City Council approved an update to the police military equipment policy.

In the final week of session, legislators are debating whether to give more leeway to public school teachers when to report students to law enforcement. Supporters say disabled and students of color are unfairly disciplined, but opponents say school safety is at risk.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken to using state resources to fight crime on a local level. Not everyone in the cities he’s taken an interest in is thrilled with the results.

The Sacramento Bee explains Proposition 6, the initiative to ban involuntary servitude.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed bills that aim to make it easier to prosecute retail theft. He’s asking voters to reject a ballot measure that would impose even tougher penalties.

The Sacramento Bee explains Propisition 36, the anti-crime measure on the November Ballot.

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.

Yolo County businesses have contributed $25,000 to support Proposition 36 on the November ballot, which aims to repeal and replace 2014's "disastrous" Proposition 47.

“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.

The Davis Police Accountability Commission sent a proposed draft ordinance to the Davis City Council to ban use of facial recognition technology by the city.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.