Re: Fentanyl, homeless, violent crime highlights in Sacramento County DA's first address

On 20 Feb 2022, Molly Bolt <[email protected]> posted some
news:[email protected]: 

> Give the stupid fuckers all the fentanyl they want!  Let them kill
> themselves.  Burn their bodies to make fertilizer and electricity. 
> Fuck them.  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho, in his first-ever "State of 
Public Safety" address, laid out his plans for the future in addressing 
crimes.

Ho, who has been in office for just more than one year, said his 
overarching goals are to protect people, connect communities and preserve 
promises. He discussed how he wants to tackle several issues, including 
the fentanyl crisis, homelessness and organized retail theft.

Rapid fentanyl response team
Ho said that within the next 60 days, he plans to launch a rapid response 
fentanyl response team that will work immediately on investigations and 
prosecutions. Data from the county shows that more than 600 people have 
died from fentanyl since January 2021 in Sacramento County alone.

“We’re working right now with the DEA, the FBI, the US attorney’s office 
and all the local law enforcement agencies, and the idea with a rapid 
fentanyl response team is this: Let’s say you have an overdose. The first 
responders, the fire department, the police — they’ll assess the 
situation. Then they’ll use a QR code to contact somebody who’s on call 
from the task force, that will then either report to the scene or follow 
up to really collect the evidence to see if we can prosecute the drug 
dealer for selling fentanyl and counterfeit drugs that contain fentanyl 
that’s really killing our families,” Ho said. “Members of the rapid 
response team will be all law enforcement officers who have experience in 
investigating these sorts of cases and prosecutors who can quickly assess 
the situation and help out, whether it be with search warrants, whether it 
be reviewing statements and interviews.”

Laura Didier, who lost her son 17-year-old son Zach to fentanyl poisoning 
in 2020, said she is on board with Ho’s plan to create a rapid response 
team.

“I think it’s an excellent idea because we’ve got to stop the supply,” 
Didier said. “We really need all the tools in the toolbox and 
interdicting, and getting these drugs off the street are a big part of 
that.”

She said that in addition to catching and prosecuting deals, education 
about the dangers of fentanyl is important. She has done a lot of advocacy 
work by speaking at schools and working on nonprofit initiatives. She does 
not want anyone to go through what her family went through.

“That’s why I have made it my mission to turn the tragedy that my family 
suffered into a teachable story for other kids,” Didier said.

Daytime camping ban
Ho said out of all the public safety concerns he has, homelessness 
throughout Sacramento County is at the top of his list.

“The biggest priority I have, frankly, in my office right now is dealing 
with our unhoused crisis,” Ho said.

He told KCRA 3 that he wants more rules and regulations when it comes to 
when unhoused individuals can set up tents and camp in the community.

“One of the things I’m asking the City of Sacramento to do is pass a 
daytime camping ban, which means you can camp at night, but not during the 
day,” Ho said. “San Diego instituted such a program with a three-step 
process, and in seven months, they saw a 60% reduction in their unhoused 
crisis.”

Some city council members recently introduced the idea of a daytime 
camping ban, but at last check, the proposal was pulled for further review 
amid strong public backlash. Homeless advocates were among those who spoke 
out against the proposal.

Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness Executive Director Bob 
Erlenbusch called a daytime camping ban “mean-spirited.”

“The county DA is incredibly out of step with the community. It’s 
counterproductive; it’s not going to be enforceable,” Erlenbusch said. 
“What are people supposed to do? Just stop existing?”

Erlenbusch said more safe parking programs, shelters and tiny home 
communities are needed.

“We need more shelter while we wait for the affordable housing,” 
Erlenbusch said.

Crimes: Organized retail theft and homicides
The DA previously promoted a recent effort by his office over the past 
couple of months to start an organized retail theft prosecution unit. That 
unit will have a full-time investigator and a full-time prosecutor 
assigned to it, so they can stay with a case from start to finish. The 
unit has charged 35 people so far, Ho said, explaining he wants to take 
the unit a step further.

“I would like to have that tool back to be able to go after the repeat 
offenders and really focus on them, the retail theft rings, the fencers, 
and the repeat offenders,” Ho said.

In terms of crimes, the latest data from Sacramento police shows that 
violent crimes are down 18% and homicides are down 40% from 2021. Still, 
Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester said more needs to be done.

“Even though we’ve seen reductions in violence and in gun violence, you 
know, even one person getting shot in our city is just too many, so we’re 
going to continue to focus on that,” Lester said. “What we’re doing right 
now; we’re doing a lot of outreach; we’re doing a lot of intervention, as 
well as very specific enforcement, is proving to be effective, and so 
we’re going to continue to do that.”

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