<body><div>Welcome to our letters to the editor/opinion section. To submit yours for consideration, please send to matthewplafever@gmail.com. Please consider including an image to be used–either a photograph of you or something applicable to the letter. However, an image is not necessary for publication.Remember opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of MendoFever nor have we checked the letters for accuracy.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0xfgRr_0wDW0fRc00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0xfgRr_0wDW0fRc00" width="1182" height="665" ></figure>Op-ed written by Susan Sher, a member of Ukiah City Council, and published on MendoFever. This was titled “False Promises regarding proposition 36”. Prop 36 is basically a fix to Proposition 47. Prop 47 was clearly false promises and cleverly marketed by our legislators. Prop 47 in its most simplistic view was legislation aimed at draining our prison populations, however it was sold to the voters as a way to make us safer. Those two goals simply didn’t coincide with one another. There are a couple of glaring omissions from this editorial, which sadly seem to be a sign of the times. Standard values that were once normal aren’t represented here. Values such as stealing anything from someone else are wrong. Also, I saw no mention of our victims of crime. Outside of the District Attorney and Law enforcement it doesn’t seem like anyone is thinking about our victims, no one is talking about our victims. In this editorial, no one is representing our victims. We see our leaders making excuses for some extremely bad behaviors and that is also an example of lowering the bar. When you argue for mistakes, you get to own them forever. It’s time for the excuses to stop and accountability to begin.When a person commits a crime, and that crime is investigated by a peace officer it begins a process of vindication and justice for the victims. The investigation is provided to the District Attorney who has the role of representing the victim and society, the defense represents the suspect. Throughout the prosecution, their work is overseen by our magistrates. Ultimately if found guilty, the duty of representing our victims and society is handed to our judges when they hand down a sentence. These judges are standing in for the victim because we need someone fair and impartial to represent the victims and society. It wouldn’t be fair if the victim was left to decide the punishment against someone who had victimized them. I see nowhere in this opinion any mention of justice for our victims.I have written before about this strange new direction our state has gone. This is a case where the architects and engineers of the law (our legislators) are no longer speaking with the carpenters (Peace Officers and District Attorneys) who are tasked with enforcing the law. I see no mention of Council Member Sher speaking with leaders in law enforcement including our District Attorney, the Ukiah Chief of Police or myself. When confronted with issues that require one to be educated in, why not reach out to those who are educated in the field of study? That didn’t happen here and is another example of the architects not speaking with the carpenters. The statements that Prop 36 would incarcerate drug dealers and users may be true. There has been a push to move away from punishment for crimes as if a stay in jail is a horrific event, it isn’t. When I see addicts dying in the brush surrounded by trash and human feces, and compare it to the folks I see in our classrooms at the jail, learning, growing, and becoming more, even if it is just for the time they are incarcerated I absolutely see what is humane and what is not. The Mendocino County Jail isn’t “Shawshank State Pen”. Also, people have forgotten when someone is in custody they aren’t victimizing folks in neighborhoods. Currently, a prison sentence in the State of California has become a lifetime achievement award for the most persistent criminal who has refused several levels of supervision and have continued forward on a life of crime.Let’s face it, narcotics are killing people. Lots of folks are getting rich on the addictions of others and poison is being marketed, distributed, and paid for with the lives of our residents including our children. I don’t think any of us should be arguing for more of the same. It isn’t working and we can all see it. Our state legislators have stated time and time again the dealer didn’t know he was going to kill someone when he sold them drugs so they shouldn’t face incarceration. I’ve seen a lot of folks not intending to kill someone in an accident when they were drinking and driving, they still face the consequences. Many parts of Prop 47 simply didn’t work and we can all see it. So why was Prop 36 being fought with such vigor in Sacramento?&nbsp; The real issue was a little deeper and darker than most folks realize.&nbsp; Prop 47 created a lot of savings by closing prisons, and these savings provided a lot of programs in which a lot of people began getting paychecks.&nbsp; I am all for these programs if they work, however they haven’t.&nbsp; In a recent CAL-MATTERS report, we see the state simply misplaced about one billion dollars which they couldn’t account for.&nbsp; This money had been funneled through grants to various groups to help solve homelessness.&nbsp; Obviously, this isn’t working and it’s not working to the point no one seems to know where a billion dollars went.&nbsp; So, when we ask about the price of Prop 36 who is asking about the funding spent on Prop 47 and the funding which had no effect and simply can’t be found?&nbsp; To the contrary statistics show homelessness and drug usage is up 53% since the passage of Prop 47.&nbsp; Who is asking about that?&nbsp; Recently Senator Ernst from Iowa brought forward reporting which shows our federal food stamp program is losing roughly 1 billion dollars a month to fraud and errors.&nbsp; No one is talking about that either. &nbsp;There is a way to reduce prison populations, they would require work our legislators simply don’t have the backbone for. This work must begin with education, opportunities and accountability. Sadly, these are three things that California seems to be struggling with constantly. Draining prison populations in the correct fashion would have taken a long time and it would have placed the focus on these societal issues. People would have had to ask themselves how many failures in a system occurred prior to 911 ever being dialed. It was simply easier to blame the legal system. So, the easy way out was to simply decriminalize a whole lot of crime. That was lowering the bar, and we can see it didn’t work. When we fall on hard times, the only solution is to raise the bar, not to lower it. If we ever want to see this change, it is time to raise the bar and stop making excuses for bad behaviors. Benjamin Franklin once said, “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.” This makes me wonder if perhaps many leaders simply want us to wait until the entire nation is equally outraged and victimized before real changes can be made. We need to get back to basics, if you’re in a hole, perhaps you should stop digging. Thank youSheriff Matt Kendall </div></body>

Mountain View, CA

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‘Raise the bar, stop making excuses’: Sheriff Kendall calls for accountability in a Letter to the Editor

Welcome to our letters to the editor/opinion section. To submit yours for consideration, please send to matthewplafever@gmail.com. Please consider including an image to be used–either a photograph of you or something applicable to the letter. However, an image is not necessary for publication. Remember opinions expressed do not necessarily...