Hundreds of cops flee California to Texas
Story by MilesDilworth, Senior Reporter For Dailymail.Com
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Hundredsof cops flee California to Texas (msn.com)
- Officers told DailyMail.com they felt state legislators were anti-law enforcement
- Many have taken up jobs in states such as Texas that are seen as tough on crime
- It has sparked fears of a cop brain drain, leaving violent thugs free to run riot
Hundreds of California copsare fleeing to Texas to escape 'soft-on-crime' policies they say havemade their jobs 'pointless', DailyMail.com can reveal.
Rank-and-file officers up to department chiefs have hit out at statelegislators, claiming a succession of 'anti-law enforcement' policies have madetheir work impossible.
Overworked and unsupported, they have instead taken up jobs in Texas andother states that are seen as tough on crime.
Evan Leona, 38, who ditched his job as a detective in a multi-agencygang unit in Fresno, California, to work for Denton Police in Texas, in 2022,said he had met 'more than a hundred officers' in the Dallas / Fort Worth areawho had fled California.
'There are five officers who have come from various agencies inCalifornia on my shift alone in Denton,' he told DailyMail.com. 'The justicesystem just works a lot better here.'
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Ray Bottenfield, aformer Santa Monica College Police Captain who retired to Hewitt, Texas, saysit has become increasingly difficult to retain or recruit officers inCalifornia due to lack of support from the state. Pictured here receiving theMedal of Valor from Barack Obama in 2016© Provided by Daily Mail
Gina Miller, aformer deputy at San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, says California'slegal system had left officers feeling 'like whatever they did was pointless'.Pictured here at her swearing in ceremony at Lewisville Police Department,Texas © Provided by Daily Mail
Officer Miller, 37,moved to her new home in Corinth, Texas, (pictured above) in 2021© Providedby Daily Mail
Leona said the majority of those who leave headed to Texas, with othersfinding work in states such as Montana and Arizona.
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It comes as the Golden State is hemorrhaging thousands of police everyyear, with numbers down by more than 5,000 since 2019.
There are now fears that high-crime Californian cities are suffering abrain drain in law enforcement, leaving the public unprotected as criminals runriot. View on Watchave (KCRASacramento)
Ray Bottenfield, a former Santa Monica College Police Captain whoretired to Hewitt, Texas, admitted it had become increasingly difficult toretain or recruit officers due to the lack of support from the state.
'When you're getting beaten up constantly, your cost of living isgetting worse and you're dealing with all this political stuff, it isoverwhelming,' he told DailyMail.com.
Many in law enforcement blame controversial legislation includingProposition 47 and 57 for turning prisons into 'revolving doors' and puttingtheir lives at risk.
Liberal politicians have staunchly defended their policies, arguing theyhave been misinterpreted and blamed unfairly for rising crime.
They say the aim of the reforms was to alleviate pressure on the state'sovercrowded prisons and refocus policing efforts on more serious crimes.
Regardless, their efforts appear deeply unpopular among many who patrolthe streets.
Gina Miller, a former deputy at San Bernardino County Sheriff'sDepartment, told DailyMail.com that California's legal system had left officersfeeling 'like whatever they did was pointless'.
The 37-year-old moved to Texas in 2021 and now works for LewisvillePolice Department, around 25 miles north of Dallas.
She said her work now had a purpose again, adding: 'If I take someone tojail they're actually going to stay in jail until they see a judge.'
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The number of lawenforcement officers in California has fallen by more than 5,000 since 2019© Providedby Daily Mail
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Hundreds of copsflee California to Texas© Provided by Daily Mail
Officer Miller said some of her former California colleagues had quit totake up desk jobs tackling welfare fraud because they no longer felt safepatrolling the streets.
In particular, she hit out at Proposition 57, which she claims has letviolent offenders onto the streets.
Put forward by then-Governor Jerry Brown and passed by voters in 2016,the law was designed to reduce prison overcrowding by offering the possibilityof early parole for non-violent offenders.
But critics highlighted a loophole that meant offenses such as domesticviolence and assault with a deadly weapon were not included under a list ofviolent offenses.
It came under the spotlight after it was revealed that Smiley Martin, asuspect in a 2022 mass shooting in Sacramento that left six dead, wasreleased early from a ten-year sentence for domestic violence and assault underprovisions set out in Proposition 57.
Miller claims the law has also put officers' lives at risk by openingthe door for violent criminals.
The officer, whose last assignment during her 11-year stint at SanBernadino was in the relatively safe and affluent city of Rancho Cucamonga,said four of her colleagues at the Sheriff's Department were shot during herfinal six months.
One of them, Sergeant Dominic Vaca, 43, was killed after he was shotpursuing a motorcycle without a license plate in 2021.
There is no indication that the suspect, Bilal Winston Shabazz, had beenreleased early under Proposition 57.
But Miller said such policies had created a general lawlessness withinthe state, leaving officers and the public feeling unsafe.
She recalled a time she took a man to jail for putting a loaded gun tohis wife's head, only for him to be released the same day.
'I got into this job to try to help people and make a difference,' shesaid. 'It was heartbreaking to be telling this victim, "I know yourhusband just tried to kill you, but he's already out of jail, so just call usif he comes back".
'To see their faces, it wears you down. You're like: "This isstupid, because I can't do anything for anybody".'
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Sgt. Dominic Vacadied after being shot in the line of duty in San Bernardino County in 2021© Providedby Daily Mail
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Smiley Martin, asuspect in a 2022 mass shooting in Sacramento that left six dead, was releasedearly from a ten-year sentence for domestic violence and assault underprovisions set out under a controversial California law, Proposition 57© Providedby Daily Mail
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Brad Pike© Providedby Daily Mail
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The clash came to ahead in the town's mayoral election, when City Council President Brad Pike(left) won a resounding victory in a heated runoff over incumbent Mayor JasonPierce (right)© Provided by Daily Mail
Officer Leona, 38, who spent five years in Tulare County before servingin Fresno County Sheriff's Office for a decade, said he was hospitalizedfollowing an assault by a violent criminal.
He said the suspect, who was 'presumably high on narcotics', had beenchasing school children before running into a stranger's garden.
A standoff with police ensued.
'At one point, he hit me over the head with a board,' he recounted. 'Ihit him with my baton. He picked me up and threw me through a sliding glasswindow into the kitchen of this lady's house.
'I was bleeding all over the place. He was bleeding. We're rollingaround in the kitchen.
'It took eight officers to finally subdue him. I broke my hand. I had toget sutures on my face.
'Another officer broke his wrist and a third officer had to get suturesor stitches with it.
'He was only in custody for a couple months. And then he got released.'
Miller also claimed Proposition 47 had turned California's prisons into'revolving doors'.
The measure, passed by voters in 2014, reclassified some nonviolentoffenses as misdemeanors, including shoplifting where the value of the stolenproperty does not exceed $950.
It has been blamed by some, including Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and California retail head Rachel Michelin for a rise inthefts after scores of stores in the state suffered brazen heists.
Whether California's legal reforms are directly to blame for suchincidents remains the subject of fierce debate.
But there is little doubt that the 'overwhelming workload' facingofficers in high-crime areas are pushing many out.
Police chiefs across the state have sounded the alarm about theirdepleted ranks.
This week, Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke again warned of a lack ofdeputies in his department, having previously warned the 'dire' staffing crisiswas 'getting kind of scary'.
Sacramento Chief of Police Kathy Lester said in June that her departmentwas 'woefully understaffed', while the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department,the region's largest law enforcement agency, is suffering from a 20 percentshortfall of deputies.
In 2022, more than 230 San Diego police officers left the department —the highest separation rate in more than a decade.
The department lost patrol officers and detectives, seasoned homicideinvestigators, collision reconstruction experts, SWAT officers, caninehandlers, training officers and police helicopter pilots.
Two thirds of those losses were resignations, not retirements. Nearlyhalf those resignations were by officers who went to other law enforcementagencies.
The Public Policy Institute of California found that the ratio of patrolofficers to residents in the state is at its lowest point since 1991, thefurthest back its data goes.
Leona doesn't see the tide being stemmed any time soon.
'They would have to completely change the legislation in California,' hesaid. 'But that's not going to happen.'
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Sacramento Chief ofPolice Kathy Lester has said her department is 'woefully understaffed'© Providedby Daily Mail
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Merced CountySheriff Vern Warnke said the lack of deputies was 'getting kind of scary'© Providedby Daily Mail
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Riverside CountySheriff Chad Bianco has blamed 'soft-on-crime' policies such as Proposition 47for a spate of brazen heists in the Golden State© Provided by Daily Mail
For now, the grass still appears to be greener on the other side.
Leona now lives in Fort Worth with his wife, who is expecting theirfirst child in August.
'There's substantially less crime here, fewer gangs,' he said. 'I had myhouse broken into in Fresno. I was nervous for my wife to go to the store. Ijust don't have those fears anymore.'
Miller, who now lives in Corinth, said she took a pay cut to move toTexas, but she is still financially better off as her take home pay is the samebecause there is no income tax in The Lone Star State and her 'money goesfurther'.
For Bottenfield, 61, who was awarded the Medal of Valor by Barack Obamain 2016 for his role in subduing an active shooter in Santa Monica in 2013, hehas finally managed to live out the move he had been planning years before heretired in June 2018.
In November that year, he waved goodbye to his $1,800-a-month two-bedapartment in Fountain Valley to build their home in Texas.
He and his wife sold that and have now bought a $360,000 three-bedroomhome with a garage in Hewitt, about halfway between Austin and Dallas.
Not all former West Coast cops have been welcomed with open arms intheir red state retirement communities, however.
A recent LA Times article exposed a backlash from locals inEagle, a small town in Idaho, who said hundreds of ex California lawenforcement officers were bringing 'liberal baggage' to their community.
But Bottenfield has found no such disdain down South.
'They understood that my politics was a lot like theirs,' he said.'There's a saying here in Texas: "I wasn't born here, but I got her assoon as I could".'
