Editorial: Yes, there are problems with Prop. 47 and $0 bail. Just not what you think

It wasn’t Los Angeles police union leader Jamie McBride’s warning to visitors to stay out of town during the holidays that was so startling, or his claim that his more than 9,500 police department colleagues can’t protect them. There seems to be an enduring hunger to blame any crime increases on criminal justice reforms like Proposition 47 and zero-dollar bail — despite numbers and other data that thoroughly debunk those claims. Opinion Editorial: California doesn’t need to roll back its criminal justice reforms to do a better job fighting crime In the statute books, California has changed sentencing policies to make them more rational and just, and to ensure that costly prison beds are used for only the most serious criminals. Yet the U.S. Supreme Court ruled more than three decades ago that “In our society liberty is the norm, and detention prior to trial or without trial is the carefully limited exception.” Earlier this year, the California Supreme Court ruled that unaffordable bail violates the state Constitution. The real reason that McBride and the Los Angeles Police Protective League say they can’t protect tourists has nothing to do with Proposition 47 or zero-dollar bail, even if those reforms rub them the wrong way.