Invocation: Jeff Chandler
Flag Salute: Jordan Kaufman
Song: Garro (I think Garro should drop his last name, be like Cher, Sting, Madonna and Charo)
Greeter: Jon Sampson
Roving Mic: Bill Lever
Guests:
Clinton Trimmer milked another free lunch from sponsor, Dave Wheldon
Good News:
Congratulations are in order to Jason Cater, celebrating his fourth year of marriage. Unfortunately he was subsequently arrested by our guest speaker, officer Brent Stratton, for failing to buy flowers for his wife Sandy.
National Park of the week:
Pinnacles National Park is about 125 miles southeast of
San Francisco. The park you see today is actually only two-thirds of the whole area. The other third of the park is still sitting in its original location 195 miles south near Los Angeles. Amazing what a million years can do.
Program
Joe Hay introduced our speaker today, Assistant Chief of Police, Brent Stratton.
This guy can talk a mile a minute for as long as you give him... without a script. If you're planning a filibuster, he's your man.
Thanks to Assembly Bill AB 109, criminals who commit low level crimes like burglary, shop lifting., etc. have little fear of the law.
Stratton said that they are too busy dealing with mental health calls. 30% of all call are related to mental health issues. Because there are no agencies available to deal with these issues, police are called, who are not necessarily equipped to deal with mental health issues.
So when it takes 7 hours for a cop to show up to take a report on your busted store window, it's probably because they were either involved in a in-progress crime or a mental health call. The department now has a person in-office to take calls and try and solve issues before sending an officer out. As well as ride along mental health workers.
Another high profile issue is homelessness. Brent felt that unless there is a criminal component, the police aren't the answer for homeless issues. However, there are 15 officers dedicated to the homeless issues in Bakersfield.
Stratton paused long enough for a breath, and Justin jumped in and started a lively question and answer period.
All in all, a pretty good presentation.
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