Digital News Report – A bill authored by Senate Republican Leader-elect Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga) that gives law enforcement another tool in keeping neighborhoods safe was signed into law yesterday by Governor Schwarzenegger.
Senate Bill 1265 allows local law enforcement officials to receive notification when mentally disordered criminal offenders are released into cities within their jurisdiction.
Current law prohibits government officials from notifying local law enforcement when an offender from the California Department of Mental Health’s Conditional Release program (ConRep) is placed in a local neighborhood. SB 1265 removes this prohibition.
The need for SB 1265 became evident after a homicide in the City of Upland earlier this year where the perpetrator, the victim and five other male offenders were living in an unsupervised group home as part of ConRep.
“It is unthinkable that current law prohibits law enforcement from being notified when potentially dangerous individuals are placed in residential neighborhoods,” Senator Dutton said. “Once this bill takes effect California will be a safer place to live.”
SB 1265 will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2011.
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