(snip)" Misdemeanors such as assaults, thefts and burglaries will no longer be prosecuted in Contra Costa County because of budget cuts, the county's top prosecutor said Tuesday.
District Attorney Robert Kochly also said that beginning May 4, his office will no longer prosecute felony drug cases involving smaller amounts of narcotics. That means anyone caught with less than a gram of methamphetamine or cocaine, less than 0.5 grams of heroin and fewer than five pills of ecstasy, OxyContin or Vicodin won't be charged.
People who are suspected of misdemeanor drug crimes, break minor traffic laws, shoplift, trespass or commit misdemeanor vandalism will also be in the clear. Those crimes won't be prosecuted, either.
"We had to make very, very difficult choices, and we had to try to prioritize things. There are no good choices to be made here," said Kochly, a 35-year veteran prosecutor. "It's trying to choose the lesser of certain evils in deciding what we can and cannot do."
Barry Grove, a deputy district attorney who is president of the Contra Costa County District Attorneys Association, said, "There's no question that these kinds of crimes are going to drastically affect the quality of life for all the citizens of Contra Costa County."
The decision not to go after any perpetrators of certain offenses, Grove said, amounts to "holding up a sign and advertising to the criminal element to come to Contra Costa County, because we're no longer going to prosecute you."(snip)
I post this because it probably won't be unique to this jurisdiction. In fact, these sort of policies may already be taking effect in your own jurisdiction as cost-saving measures, but without state or local officials bothering to make a public announcement. State and local governments are going broke everywhere, and one of the least politically painful places for politicians to cut gov't spending is on the enforcement of crimes that registered voters don't really care all that much about (as long as such crimes don't affect them personally).
Where dancers are concerned, likely results would be ...
- the de-facto 'legalization' of prostitution i.e. extras inside the club
- the de-facto 'legalization' of small amounts of relatively 'benign' drugs
- a likely increase in the risk of dancers being 'robbed' on their way home from the club
- a likely increase in the risk of dancers' homes being burglarized while they are working



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