LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County’s sheriff, district attorney and chief deputy district attorney spoke to the Middletown Area Town Hall on Thursday evening about crime in the south county and challenges law enforcement is facing due to changing laws and hiring.

Sheriff Brian Martin, District Attorney Susan Krones and Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff spoke to MATH members and fielded questions during the first half of the group’s monthly meeting, held via Zoom.

They were asked to speak to the group, whose members have been concerned about crime in their communities.

One aspect of the discussion involved homelessness. Martin explained that driving factors include mental health, drug and alcohol abuse, high housing costs, voluntariness, domestic violence and lack of family support.

He referenced the 2021 point in time count that found 241 people in Lake County who met the federal definition of homeless, down from 572 the previous year. Of those, 36% self-identified as having chronic health issues, 19% said they receive disability benefits and 227 said they have lived in Lake County for more than five years.

Of that group, 177 people said they were homeless because of Lake County’s wildland fires.

Among those reported to be homeless, Martin said the ages range from 5 months to 94 years old.

Martin also discussed the impacts of prison realignment, which began in 2011. By 2014, county jail populations had skyrocketed and the Lake County Jail capacity, which was rated for 286 inmates, reached its highest level, at more than 400.

He said lawsuits were filed in several counties due to jail overpopulation, and in 2014, 19 of 58 county jail systems were operating under court-ordered population caps.

Martin, Krones and Hinchcliff would fault voter ballot measures such as Proposition 47, the “Safe Neighborhood and Schools Act, passed in 2014, and Proposition 57, passed in 2016, for negatively impacting efforts to reduce crime.

Martin said Proposition 47 reduced a number of felonies to misdemeanors, including property crimes valued at less than $950 — shoplifting, grand theft, receiving stolen property, forgery, fraud and bad checks — as well as personal use of most illegal drugs.

Adding to the challenge are record case backlogs. Martin said many offenders now are failing to even show up for court appearances. Court clerks in Lake County are now adding a notation to case numbers indicating how many times a person has failed to appear in the same case. Martin said one individual has failed to appear eight separate times.

Martin said the 2021 Humphrey decision by the California Supreme Court found that the state's practice of requiring cash bail in most cases is unconstitutional. As a result, courts must now consider all non-monetary alternatives to detention, such as electronic monitoring, check-ins with pretrial case managers, community housing or shelter, stay away orders, and drug and alcohol testing and treatment.

He said courts also must consider a defendant's ability to pay and set bail at the defendant can reasonably pay.

If the court concludes that public or victim safety, or the arrestee's appearance in court, can't be reasonably assured if the individual is released, it may detain them only if it finds clear and convincing evidence that no nonfinancial condition of release can reasonably protect those interests, Martin said.

Martin also discussed the challenges in staffing for his department while at the same time incidents are growing in number.

In 2005, the sheriff's department had 163 employees. Today it has 118, with Martin noting during the discussion that he has 30 vacancies. The sheriff’s office received reports of 39,799 incidents in 2021, of which 5,337 were in the Middletown area.

In reviewing crime statistics for 2021, Martin said he noted that burglaries jumped for some reason in Middletown and Hidden Valley Lake.

Out of the 19 burglaries that occurred in that area, five were in Hidden Valley — three of them took place outside of the gates in the shopping center — and 14 occurred in Middletown.

The Hidden Valley Lake cases included a pharmacy smash-and-grab, a golf cart that was stolen and recovered and appeared to be the work of juveniles — deputies found tracks from “smaller than adult size feet” during the investigation — along with a stolen firearm from a house in which the suspect likely knew the victim, and two construction site burglaries, Martin said.

In one of those construction site burglaries, the victim is not assisting. However, in the second, a suspect has been identified and linked to crimes in the city of Clear Lake. Martin said the property has been recovered and they are awaiting an arrest warrant from the District Attorney's Office.

Regarding the 14 burglaries in the Middletown area, Martin said one of them involved the theft of three bags of pellets from a store, theft of money from a laundromat, a weed eater that was stolen from a storage shed in an apartment complex, money stolen from the closet of a residence, two residential burglaries at homes near Highway 29, a storage container lock that was cut and a weed eater stolen, a suspect arrested for being under the influence and found to have committed a burglary earlier in which he stole a car and a residential burglary in which guns were stolen in the victim is not assisting.

Another residential and community burglary involved a suspect who was arrested and has had seven counts filed against him by the district attorney. However, that suspect, identified by Martin as 29-year-old Luke Parker of Kelseyville, was released from jail and is at large. Martin warned people not to attend to apprehend Parker themselves.

Other burglaries in that group of 14 included one in connection to a domestic violence case, commercial burglaries on Main and one at Crazy Creek Gliders, for which there was a partial property recovery, and a burglary at an antique store, Martin said.

Martin urged community members to secure their property, don't leave items in plain sight, get security cameras, and alarm systems, know their neighbors and get serial numbers of property.

Those with security cameras can join the sheriff’s camera registry program at http://www.lakesheriff.com/Programs/Cameras.htm.

District attorney’s staff discusses law changes

Krones said under the new laws there is no incentive for people to stop stealing.

She said she’s among a group of 27 district attorneys from across the state that have filed an injunction against the California Department of Corrections for an increase to good conduct credits given to prisoners convicted of serious violent felonies.

She said new laws that went into effect in January take away the discretion of judges in sentencing in some situations, requiring them to give the middle terms unless aggravating factors are proved.

Another sentencing guideline involves younger offenders. If an individual is under age 26 when offense committed, the presumptive term is the low term, she said.

“We have an uphill battle to get even to the midterm, even in the most horrendous of offenses,” Krones said.

She also explained the no bail practice, which was implemented for most offenses due to COVID-19. “This has continued for the last two years.”

No bail and the Humphreys decision have added to the problem, with most people now being released or cited. As a result, “We’ve had a lot of failures to appear over the last two years,” Krones said.

Hinchcliff said Proposition 47 has “caused a huge increase in petty thefts in this county and all across the state,” explaining that people can commit repeated crimes with thefts of under $950 and never be prosecuted for a felony.

Hinchcliff, who was raised in Lake County and has been with the District Attorney’s Office for 27 years, said there are many people working in the agency who care about the community and have stayed to serve it.

“We’re doing everything that we can,” but Hinchcliff said their hands have been tied by voters passing bad laws that impact law enforcement.

He outlined the three biggest problems that he thinks need to be addressed to reduce crime:

• There is not enough treatment for people with mental health issues and drugs. He said it’s estimated that more than 90% of homeless individuals who are committing crimes day after day have serious mental health and drug issues.
• People must quit voting for laws that reduce the seriousness of crimes and law enforcement’s ability to arrest and prosecute people. “We need to reverse some of the damage that has been done in the last 15 years” by changing the laws back, Hinchcliff said.
• The District Attorney’s Office needs more staff. After a decade of getting only one 3% raise, the county has found money for raises and Hinchcliff said he hopes it helps. About five years ago, he said the office had 13 trial prosecutors, in addition to him and the district attorney. Now, those 13 have been reduced to eight. At the same time, they have just over half of the four secretary positions they have filled, which can cause case backlogs.

During a question and answer period, community members pressed Martin in particular on what they can do to partner with the sheriff’s office to get more response and presence.

Martin suggested involvement in Neighborhood Watch and volunteering at the sheriff’s office. He also urged them to reach out to their legislators about the tools that have been taken away from law enforcement.

He also fielded complaints about dispatcher responses to callers.

When asked about whether he had enough money to cover his hiring needs, Martin said yes, but added that money isn’t the issue and that if he can’t find the people to hire, the money doesn’t matter.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.