SAN DIEGO — CBS 8 previously reported on a woman named Kim who allegedly stole items from doorsteps in an Oak Park neighborhood. Bruce Thompson, a resident in the area, helped her out at one point, because she had said she was homeless. He said since then she’s been terrorizing the neighborhood for over a year, vandalizing homes and harassing neighbors.
Kim is currently in jail, awaiting her next hearing in April. However, Thompson fears she could get released again and he wants changes made in the criminal justice system.
"You know, the community is frustrated, but we're frustrated with them as well. And sometimes I think people take it out on us not understanding that we're trying as much as we can do," said San Diego Police Department's Captain Julie Epperson who has been following the case intensively.
She said overcrowding in jails and low staffing is a part of the problem.
"Unfortunately, in this county, there's a lot of package theft in this county. There's low staffing, there's no way with the staffing that that the prosecutors have that they can individually prosecute every case, there's just no way," said Cpt. Epperson.
Cpt. Epperson said in this case, a suspect, like Kim, gets arrested for a misdemeanor and released and it becomes a cycle in that they can’t keep that person in jail anymore.
"It's out of our hands at that point. It's up to the criminal justice system," said Cpt. Epperson.
CBS 8 reached out to the City Attorney’s office and they referred us to District Attorney Summer Stephan's office.
District Attorney Summer Stephan told CBS 8:
“We are advocating for a change in the law that distinguishes first time offenders from those who repeatedly violate the law and steal what doesn’t belong to them. It’s time our laws work to protect our neighborhoods. Currently if you steal a package from a porch and the value of the contents is under $950, which most packages are, it’s a misdemeanor no matter how many times you commit that same crime. This needs to change.”
"I don't know that there's an easy solution because our jails are overcrowded. And if we were to book every person that does a misdemeanor, there's no way we could do it. But there has to be more immediate consequences," said Cpt. Epperson.
Watch Related: Porch 'pirate' accused of stealing, harassing neighbors (Feb 19, 2024)