RIVERSIDE – (INT) – Law enforcement is quick to blame the state’s prison reform for escalating crime rates.

Riverside County Sheriff Stan Sniff had a comparison.

“Statistics from 2008-09 and going into 2010 were dropping, slowed and began reversing the last couple of years.”

And, when comparing violent crime and property crimes,
“California crime, not just that in Riverside County, violence was twice the national average and a whopping 9 percent increase in property crimes, 6-times the national average,” the sheriff told County Supervisors.

Sheriff Sniff says Riverside County crime has risen 7 percent since prison reform resulted in the release of thousands of prisoners.

Story Date: April 7, 2013