A prominent California sheriff declared his loyalty to Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 election.
Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco made the proud proclamation in a video posted to social media Saturday, joking that he was “switching teams” in the process.
The comments from the city’s top cop between Los Angeles and Palm Springs came days after the former president was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, in what some say was a coup by the current administration.
In turn, Bianco, a well-known conservative, admitted that he liked some things state leaders did, before disapproving of decisions related to crime and housing.
The potential governor of California said he was “tired” of such problems, before wryly admitting that it consisted of saying he thought putting a 77-year-old felon in the White House might be a good idea.
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Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco made the proud proclamation in a video posted to social media Saturday, joking that he was “switching teams” in the process.
He declared his loyalty to the former president ahead of the 2024 election, despite his recent conviction.
“I think I’m going to change teams,” Bianco said.
“I think they’ve accomplished something, but I don’t think they’re doing enough,” he added, referring to state leaders.
“Trump 2024, baby, let’s save this country and make America great again.”
The statement came after the officer explained what he framed as a “love story” between state leaders and criminals.
This, he said, is based on a “belief that criminals are not responsible for their own actions” after the crime rate in Riverside County reached 39.04 per 1,000 residents last year, one of the highest. high in the country.
“They are victims of society,” Bianco continued, before citing an alleged belief by state leaders that “criminals are not responsible for their own actions.”
“It’s society’s fault,” he continued, speaking sarcastically. “It’s the companies’ fault.” It’s the police’s fault. Maybe it’s my fault.
He went on to point out how some state leaders have criticized their respective judicial and police systems for being “systemically racist,” a claim that has led to some repeat offenders being released to combat alleged “bias.”
“They let them out,” the sheriff continued, lamenting how leaders in California and Washington give criminals “housing…money…” and even “drugs and alcohol now.”
Bianco said he was “tired” of that treatment and admitted that his colleagues in the Golden State have been “wrong” in implementing that guidance.
Bianco, a well-known conservative who governs the city between Los Angeles and Palm Springs, said he liked some things state leaders did, but expressed disapproval of certain decisions. Just before, he explained what he framed as a ‘love story’ between state leaders and criminals.
This, he said, is based on a “belief that criminals are not responsible for their own actions” after the crime rate in Riverside County reached 39.04 per 1,000 residents last year, one of the highest. high in the country.
The veteran veteran claimed he had done everything in his power over the past three decades to “keep our community safe by arresting criminals and putting them in prison,” but leaders at the state level have stood in his way.
He lamented how these leaders and the once-great state of California have become somewhat pro-criminal in recent years, due to laws that have allowed violent criminals, in general, to exploit the legal justice system.
“For the last five years I have been very critical of our governor for cutting our corrections budgets, for letting inmates out early, for closing our prisons,” he said, four years after kneeling in solidarity with protesters in Riverside after the murder of George Floyd.
‘I have criticized our state legislature for passing laws that make it difficult to incarcerate people. I have been critical of the change in laws that allow prisoners to be released early. And I have criticized our attorney general for apparently not caring about crime.
“I think it’s time we put a criminal in the White House,” the official continued.
California Attorney General Robert Andrés Bonta has held the position since 2021.
Seven years earlier, California passed one of the state’s largest criminal justice reform measures in Proposition 47, to “ensure that prison spending is focused on violent and serious crimes” and “maximize alternatives for non-serious and non-serious crimes.” violent”, apart from serious crimes. judgment.
“For the last five years I have been very critical of our governor for cutting our corrections budgets, for letting inmates out early, for closing our prisons,” he said, four years after kneeling in solidarity with protesters in Riverside after the murder of George Floyd.
‘I have criticized our state legislature for passing laws that make it difficult to incarcerate people. I have been critical of the change in laws that allow prisoners to be released early. And I have criticized our attorney general for apparently not caring about crime.
Democrats, during the span, touted the guidance as progressive and effective, but after about a decade, they are reconsidering it.
This is due to a growing sense in the state that property crimes have gotten out of control, leading more and more state leaders to call for some type of review of the 2014 ballot measure.
It’s a major change from a decade ago, when Californians passed the initiative in hopes that drug possession and property crime numbers would fade, classifying them as misdemeanors instead of felonies to misdemeanors.
The repeal of previous tough-on-crime laws has largely failed, as state data shows, and the number of shoplifting has not decreased since 2014, but arrests for doing so have.
Police and retailers have also become less aggressive in engaging and apprehending shoplifters, and organized retail theft rings, flash mobs and other similar phenomena have emerged in the years since the pandemic.
Additionally, it continues to become increasingly difficult for prosecutors to rack up charges and charge repeat thieves with serious crimes.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who supported Proposition 47 since its inception, remains adamant about the measure’s supposed benefits.
Inmates exercise outside in the yard at San Quentin State Prison on July 26, 2023 in San Rafael. Bianco on Thursday criticized laws such as Proposition 47 aimed at relieving prison overcrowding by recategorizing some violent crimes into misdemeanors.
The criminal justice reforms were spurred by a U.S. Supreme Court order to reduce the state’s overcrowded prisons.
“I think it’s time we put a criminal in the White House,” said the officer with more than 30 years of experience.
But with 2024 already underway, there is at least one proposed measure that, if put before voters in November, would repeal parts of the law, and the mayors of two large liberal cities, San Francisco and San Jose, already support the initiative.
Meanwhile, there are at least a dozen proposals in the state Legislature to modify or repeal the law, while officials in cities like Los Angeles and Riverside remain more reluctant to support such a vote.
However, these proposals would also have to be approved by voters, just as Proposition 47 did when it was approved by California voters on November 5, 2014.
The law has since made some nonviolent property crimes, worth no more than $950, misdemeanors.
He also converted some simple drug possession offenses into misdemeanors.