Voters seeking both safety and justice reforms
In the Bay Area, Tuesday's election was a recalibration but certainly not a repudiation of progressive law enforcement reforms that critics claim.
The national attention focused on San Francisco's recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin, a former public defender who worked to eliminate cash bail, go after bad cops and reduce incarceration.
But it missed the string of victories in East and South Bay counties by district attorney and sheriff candidates who vowed similar reforms but, unlike Boudin, also emphasized the need for public safety.
The overarching message from Bay Area voters was that they want law enforcement officials who will address policing inequities and abuse, racial and economic disparities, and overzealous prosecution of victimless crimes while keeping residents safe on the streets and in their homes.
In other words, they don't want to choose between reform and safety. They want both.
That's understandable. Progressive voters don't want criminals running free in their neighborhoods; most conservative voters don't want police abusing their power. And, with some exceptions, such as Oakland, the statistics for the Bay Area and California show that claims of soaring crime are unsupported — that reform and safety are not incompatible.
The national focus on Boudin missed the reelections of district attorneys Jeff Rosen in Santa Clara County and Diana Becton in Contra Costa, who share many of Boudin's reform goals but are more balanced in their approaches.
And in Alameda County, the race for district attorney will go to a runoff between Pamela Price, a hard-left criminal justice reform advocate who has never prosecuted a criminal case, and Terry Wiley, an office veteran who champions balanced change. Neither candidate represents a backtracking on change.
As for the other key elective law enforcement office, sheriff races on Tuesday in three of the four East and South Bay counties showed a shift toward reform. In two of those races, leaders from within topped their bosses.
San Mateo County's Capt. Christina Corpus, who promised cultural change in the office, reduction of lethal force situations and improved mental health responses, will become the next sheriff unless there's a surprising shift in still-uncounted ballots.
And Alameda County Division Commander Yesenia Sanchez, who vowed to clean up the deplorable conditions at Santa Rita Jail, far outpolled her boss in the three-way race and as of Friday evening had just over the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff.
In Santa Clara County, Sheriff Laurie Smith, shamed into retirement after years of scandal and county jail abuses, is leaving in disgrace, facing a grand jury accusation of malfeasance in office. The top two candidates on Tuesday both promised greater accountability and transparency for a department lacking in both.
The one outlier in the Bay Area movement for accountability and change was Contra Costa's race for sheriff. Incumbent David Livingston, an old-school, law-and-order leader, won reelection while stridently defending a former deputy convicted of felony assault with a firearm for killing an unarmed motorist. Livingston has been an impediment to reform, but he faced a weak challenger with little managerial experience.
Otherwise, however, the message was clear: Voters don't want justice reform and holding criminals accountable to be an either/or proposition. Nor should it be.