Prison Realignment Just A Part Of Roseville Crime Rise Following Years Of Decline
ROSEVILLE (CBS13) — The latest crime numbers aren't good for one of the more popular suburbs near Sacramento.
From violent crime to robberies to vehicle theft, there's been a spike in crime in Roseville.
Roseville Police Chief Daniel Hahn says it's troubling to see the numbers go up across the board, considering crime in the area had been going down for years.
It's easy to get comfortable in the fast-growing bedroom community of Roseville, but growing pains have led to a rising crime rate.
"Anytime it goes up, it should raise alarms," Hahn said.
Everything but murder is on the rise in Roseville, and Hahn says prison realignment is one factor in the rise in crime.
"People with criminal histories—there's no doubt that both of those put more of those folks on the streets in our community—whether they commit crimes again—you know it's an individual thing," he said.
Michael Rushford with the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a group that's done extensive research on what happens when some prisoners get out early, says a lot of them are committing crimes again.
"Everybody is scrambling to find out the reason. Well the reason is we're letting more criminals out," he said. "We're seeing time after time terrible crimes—violent crimes occurring after an inmate walks out of county jail two weeks earlier, after he's beaten up his girlfriend, promises to kill her—they put him in county jail, he's out in 10 days and he kills her."
Hahn will say it's more complicated than that, but the bottom line:
"We're not in control of what the circumstances are but we are responsible for keeping our community safe and that's what we're gonna do," he said.
For Roseville Police, that means making sure every available position is filled, and reminding neighbors that an appealing place to call home can be appealing to would-be criminals.
The recent rise in crime comes after years of near-record-low numbers in the past five years.
