Through hard work and dedication — and withthe help of the three strikes law — California law enforcement has made excellent inroads in stabilizing crime in the past few decades. But recent increases in murder and robbery, combined with the precipitous rise of methamphetamine distribution, concerns me. I believe these serious problems demand a forceful response.

Convicted felons and gang members with guns are a big part of the problem, as is the rampant recruitment of our children by older gang members.

My constituents regularly tell me that they want gang and street crime problems solved, once and for all. A survey conducted earlier this year by Loyola Marymount University found that Los Angeles residents ranked gang violence as the area’s number two problem, after traffic.

These many concerned citizens tell me it’s time to put efforts into saving our children from gang involvement, and it’s time to send a strong message to criminals and street thugs that Californians have had it with their violent crimes and lawless ways.

I couldn’t agree more.

This frustration with gang and street crime has put many communities on the path of grassroots activism to fi ght back. I applaud their brave efforts, and I encourage them to continue the pursuit of ridding their communities of violence in order to restore peace to their neighborhoods.

However, they cannot do it alone.

They need statewide leadership and laws that punish and prevent street crimes and that provide local government with the 21st century resources it needs to win the war on gangs in California.

Tough-on-crime legislation rarely receives fair and balanced public hearings in the Senate or Assembly public safety committees, let alone passage in either house. Furthermore, public safety funding is jeopardized every year by other budgetary items, even though the Victims’ Bill of Rights in the California Constitution says “public safety is protected and encouraged as a goal of highest importance.”

That’s why I support the Safe Neighborhoods Act, a comprehensive public safety initiative with four objectives:

• Creating intervention and rehabilitation programs that are held accountable to the public
• Enhancing penalties for gang members, felons with guns, methamphetamine dealers and other street thugs
• Guaranteeing tools and sustainable resources for law enforcement
• Protecting victims and their families.

The Safe Neighborhoods Act, which I am co-writing with Mike Reynolds, the father of threestrikes, and San Bernardino County Supervisor Gary Ovitt, will make public safety a statewide priority and limit volatility in law enforcement and crime deterrence funding.

The key to the Safe Neighborhoods Act is to establish a higher commitment to crime deterrence and enforcement and to sustain that level of commitment.

The act creates new penalties targeting gang crimes and felons with guns as well as intervention programs to assist at-risk juveniles and parolees attempting to re-enter our communities.

In most cases, California police, sheriffs, and correctional offi cers are faced with much higher caseloads than their counterparts in other parts of the country.

Authorizing enforcement without commensurate resources provides little public safety. A new program to shut down methamphetamine labs will soon prove fruitless if the recipient agency simultaneously loses funding to combat street gangs and fi rearm violations.

The Safe Neighborhoods Act is designed to replace this “robbing Peter to pay Paul” approach with sustainable funding by protecting both new and existing programs and resources and by subjecting all programs to greater public scrutiny and accountability.

Some of the provisions of the Safe Neighborhoods Act would do the following:

• Heighten penalties for accomplices. Amends 10-20-Life sentencing protocols to penalize not only the offenders who use firearms in the commission of certain felonies, but their accomplices as well.
• Provide Section 8 Housing protection. Enforces Section 8 Housing rules regarding guns, gangs and drugs, creating more public housing for truly needy Californians.
• Toughen laws for meth. Increases the penalties for those who use and sell methamphetamine to the same level as those for cocaine.
• Protect witness testimony. Authorizes admission or sworn statements by gang crime witnesses who have died or who are unavailable to testify at the time of prosecution because of intimidation.
• Punish smugglers of prison contraband. Enhances penalties for individuals who provide contraband to gang members in prison.
• Create a statewide gang registry. Requires convicted gang offenders to register with local law enforcement each year for fi ve years following conviction or their release from custody.
• Establish the “Use a gun and lose a car” law. When a gun is in a car and the registered owner is involved in a crime, the owner’s car can be impounded.
• Prohibit bail for illegal aliens charged with violent or gang crimes. Why should the courts grant illegal aliens, who are most likely to take fl ight, bail of any kind?
• Create the Early Intervention & Rehabilitation Commission. The commission will include nine members charged with evaluating, recommending and monitoring programs with emphasis on public accountability, disclosure and dispassionate assessments.
• Authorize $250 million in targeted funding for police, sheriffs, district attorneys and probation officers. Assists local authorities with GPS tracking equipment to monitor gang members and high-risk felons. Prioritizes enforcement efforts to reduce firearm violence and other street crimes and programs designed to deter and rehabilitate.
• Stabilize funding for existing critical programs. Programs such as COPS will be made permanent and dependable so that law enforcement efforts can be maintained.

The measure was submitted to Attorney General Jerry Brown’s offi ce on Oct. 22 for title and summary.

To qualify for the November 2008 ballot, nearly 434,000 signatures are necessary by April 2008.

I am confi dent that voters are enthusiastic about passing laws that protect people and their neighborhoods from crime and that create a sensible, balanced approach to gang crime intervention, criminal rehabilitation and prison recidivism.

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George Runner is a state senator and chairman of the Republican Caucus. He represents the Antelope Valley, Victor Valley, San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita and parts of Ventura County.