Law Enforcement

It was clear 37-year-old Fredreaka Jack needed intense mental and physical health care. Yet California’s publicly funded parole system failed to make sure she got it.

As Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass picks a new police chief and voters select the district attorney, together the two choices will shape public safety around the city.

Many law enforcement departments are having trouble filling vacancies, but they're slow to use a state law that lets them hire immigrants legally under the federal DACA program.

A lot is at stake with the U.S. Supreme Court agreeing to hear a case that determines how and when cities can clear homeless camps. The Eighth Amendment has been largely settled for decades, but the conservative court seems determined to set the clock back.

To keep more police on patrols, law enforcement groups would like officers to spend less time in court. Legislation would allow non-sworn community service officers to testify in preliminary hearings instead of police.

A conviction for child trafficking will be classified as a “serious felony” in California, making it punishable as a strike under the state’s three-strikes law.

As the state shutters prisons, Gov. Newsom wants to turn San Quentin into a model for rehabilitation. Attorney General Rob Bonta is trying to catch up on police shooting investigations.

By law, California Highway Patrol officers receive raises based on what five other large law enforcement agencies pay police. Several California cities recently gave police substantial wage increases, leading to the biggest raise in 20 years for the CHP.

Fifty years ago, two drifters murdered nine people in the bedroom of a home near Lodi. The memory of it never fades.

From CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu:  There is no shortage of political wealth in California — and certainly not in the 2024 U.S. Senate race. With less than five months until the March 5 primary, the five top Democrats and Republicans have collectively raised roughly $50 million — more than the $40 million the […]