Safe Neighborhoods Act

SECTION I. TITLE Arndt. #18

This act shall be known, and may be cited as, the "Safe Neighborhoods Act : Protect Victim s, Stop Gang and Street Crime."

SEC. 2. FINDI NGS AND DECLARATIONS

(a) The People of the State of California find and declare that state government has no higher purpose or more challenging mandate than the protection of our families and our neighborhoods from crime.
(b) Almos t every citizen has been, or knows someone who has been, victimized by crime.
(c) Altho ugh crime rates have fallen substantially since the early 1990s, there have been some disturbing increases in the last few years in seve ral categories of crime. According to the Federal Bureau or Investigation, there were 477 more homicides in California in 2006 than there were in 1999, a period during which homicides and homicide rates declined in many other states. In add ition, the California Department ofJustice has reported that there were 74,000