Public Safety Plan to Bolster Local Law Enforcement Response

Working with local law enforcement to bolster public safety, Gov. Gavin Newsom recently unveiled a multipronged plan to fight and prevent crime in California. The governor’s Real Public Safety Plan focuses on new investments that will bolster local law enforcement response, ensure prosecutors hold perpetrators accountable, and get guns and drugs off the streets.

“We’re doubling down on our public safety investments and partnerships with law enforcement officials up and down the state to ensure Californians and small businesses feel safe in their communities – a fundamental need we all share,” said Newsom. “Through robust new investments and ongoing coordination with local agencies, this plan will bolster our prevention, deterrence and enforcement efforts to aggressively curb crime, hold bad actors to account and protect Californians from the devastating gun violence epidemic.”

While long-term crime trends in California are down in almost every category, other states have experienced a recent uptick in organized retail theft and other violent crimes, particularly those involving firearms. The Governor’s Real Public Safety Plan will support existing efforts and new initiatives including a permanent Smash and Grab Enforcement Unit led by CHP, funding for a statewide organized theft team in the attorney general’s office to prosecute cross-jurisdictional theft-related crimes, the largest gun buyback program in the country, and grants for local law enforcement, prosecutors and small businesses victimized by retail theft.