In a significant trend that underscores the growing discontent among law enforcement officers in California, hundreds of police personnel are reportedly leaving the state for Texas, citing 'soft-on-crime' policies that they believe have rendered their roles 'pointless'.
This exodus, which includes officers from various ranks up to department chiefs, is a direct response to what they perceive as a series of 'anti-law enforcement' policies enacted by state legislators.
Evan Leona, a 38-year-old former detective in a multi-agency gang unit in Fresno, California, who relocated to Denton Police in Texas in 2022, revealed that he had encountered 'more than a hundred officers' in the Dallas / Fort Worth area who had similarly fled California. "There are five officers who have come from various agencies in California on my shift alone in Denton," Leona told DailyMail.com. "The justice system just works a lot better here."
The majority of these officers are reportedly heading to Texas, with others finding employment in states such as Montana and Arizona. This migration comes at a time when California is losing thousands of police officers annually, with the numbers having declined by more than 5,000 since 2019. This has sparked concerns about a potential brain drain in law enforcement in high-crime Californian cities, leaving the public vulnerable as criminal activities escalate.
Ray Bottenfield, a former Santa Monica College Police Captain who retired to Hewitt, Texas, acknowledged the increasing difficulty in retaining or recruiting officers due to the lack of support from the state. "When you're getting beaten up constantly, your cost of living is getting worse and you're dealing with all this political stuff, it is overwhelming," he said.
Many in law enforcement attribute controversial legislation, including Propositions 47 and 57, for turning prisons into 'revolving doors' and endangering their lives. Liberal politicians, however, have staunchly defended their policies, arguing that they have been misinterpreted and unfairly blamed for rising crime. They maintain that the aim of these reforms was to alleviate pressure on the state's overcrowded prisons and refocus policing efforts on more serious crimes.
Gina Miller, a former deputy at San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, who moved to Texas in 2021 and now works for Lewisville Police Department, criticized California's legal system for leaving officers feeling 'like whatever they did was pointless'. She said her work now had a purpose again, adding: "If I take someone to jail they're actually going to stay in jail until they see a judge."
Miller also criticized Proposition 57, which she claims has allowed violent offenders onto the streets. This law, passed by voters in 2016, was designed to reduce prison overcrowding by offering the possibility of early parole for non-violent offenders. However, critics have pointed out a loophole that excludes offenses such as domestic violence and assault with a deadly weapon from a list of violent offenses.
Miller also claimed Proposition 47 had turned California's prisons into 'revolving doors'. This measure, passed by voters in 2014, reclassified some nonviolent offenses as misdemeanors, including shoplifting where the value of the stolen property does not exceed $950. It has been blamed by some for a rise in thefts after numerous stores in the state suffered brazen heists.
Police chiefs across the state have expressed concern about their depleted ranks. In 2022, more than 230 San Diego police officers left the department the highest separation rate in more than a decade. The Public Policy Institute of California found that the ratio of patrol officers to residents in the state is at its lowest point since 1991.
Leona doesn't see the tide being stemmed any time soon. "They would have to completely change the legislation in California," he said. "But that's not going to happen."
For now, the grass still appears to be greener on the other side. Leona now lives in Fort Worth with his wife, who is expecting their first child in August. "There's substantially less crime here, fewer gangs," he said. "I had my house broken into in Fresno. I was nervous for my wife to go to the store. I just don't have those fears anymore."
Miller, who now lives in Corinth, said she took a pay cut to move to Texas, but she is still financially better off as her take home pay is the same because there is no income tax in The Lone Star State and her 'money goes further'.
For Bottenfield, 61, who was awarded the Medal of Valor by Barack Obama in 2016 for his role in subduing an active shooter in Santa Monica in 2013, he has finally managed to live out the move he had been planning years before he retired in June 2018.
In November that year, he waved goodbye to his $1,800-a-month two-bed apartment in Fountain Valley to build their home in Texas. He and his wife sold that and have now bought a $360,000 three-bedroom home with a garage in Hewitt, about halfway between Austin and Dallas.
Not all former West Coast cops have been welcomed with open arms in their red state retirement communities, however. A recent LA Times article exposed a backlash from locals in Eagle, a small town in Idaho, who said hundreds of ex California law enforcement officers were bringing 'liberal baggage' to their community.
But Bottenfield has found no such disdain down South. "They understood that my politics was a lot like theirs," he said. "There's a saying here in Texas: 'I wasn't born here, but I got her as soon as I could'."
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