Rialto Police Chief Defends Marijuana Users over Non Marijuana Users

In the past Law Enforcement acted as the buffer between the drug users and non drug users. Nationwide that has changed no matter what the laws are in a given state police are giving up on protecting people from the effects of others using drugs. We as adults are causing our youth to see marijuana as safe.

In Rialto this has come as somewhat of a shock as residents expected more on both side of the issue. Those who consume Marijuana for fun and “medicine” expected the hammer to drop or at least more blow back in an effort to hold users accountable to whatever law they could. The same expectation was had on the non user side of things. People not consuming Marijuana had an expectation that the laws over recreational use would be enforced and their exposure would be minimal. You may ask why would Rialto residents on both side have the same fear/expectation. Well both sides thought this for the same reasons:

  • Rialto has fought hard to break the stigma of becoming a drug and gang haven.
  • Rialto worked hard to keep the problems from San Bernardino’s bankruptcy from spilling over the boarders of Rialto.
  • Rialto has one of the toughest gang injunctions in the county.
  • Rialto wrote the most effective local ordnance in dealing with SPICE (synthetic Marijuana) in the nation.
  • Rialto police hit smoke shops hard making sure they followed all the rules of the SPICE ordnance as well as laws on the taxation of cigarettes.
  • Rialto police officers are multiple year award winning DUI officers with hundreds of DUI convictions under their belt.
  • Rialto City Council and Mayor all appear to support keeping Marijuana under wraps by continuing to ban its sale and cultivation in Rialto.

Chief Kling is showing us why we are in the place we are today with Law Enforcement. Mark Kling left law enforcement to teach at Cal Baptist University. It seems clear that students in the career of law enforcement have been getting a very sad view of policing and keeping law abiding people safe. Yes Marijuana is legal for recreational use but there are laws and rules around that use and Chief Kling seems to care less about making sure those laws are enforced. If Marijuana smoke and its harmful effects on others are not a big deal then why do we have laws limiting smoking cigarettes in your apartment, Alcohol in public and loud parties?

Needless to say the Chief Kling that once worked in Rialto and the one we have now are two totally different people. What are your thoughts on the way the Police Chief is dealing with Marijuana Policy and Laws?

Below are links to articles used in the video above:

https://health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/2017-01-06/secondhand-marijuana-smoke-and-your-children

https://drugabuse.com/lets-clear-the-air-about-secondhand-marijuana-smoke/

https://www.leafly.com/news/health/secondhand-marijuana-smoking-side-effects

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/marijuana/what-are-effects-secondhand-exposure-to-marijuana-smoke

Image

Are the Friend’s of Rialto K9 Association Another Problem In Rialto’s Finances?

This past Saturday the annual Fallen Officer Memorial 5k was held. One thing that stood out to us as we watched Councilman Andy Carrizales Instagram Live was a booth from the Fontana Police K9 Pals a non profit that supports the Fontana K9 unit. Now it isn’t totally odd to see an organization that supports another agency at a local agencies event. What is odd is the fact that the Friend’s of Rialto K9 Association are still bared from funding our K9 program.

This all stems from the Termination of K9 Officer Glen Anderson and the Rialto Friend’s objection to allowing the then Police Chief Randy Deanda from taking over control of their group. It has been over a year since the former Police Chief took action against the Friend’s and used scare tactics to try and strong arm members into submission. Now it seems that they have decided to add insult to injury and while the Rialto K9 group is still unable to provide funding our city can’t afford to fund they will celebrate another organization at a city sponsored event.

Image

More Lies Coming From City Hall

On Monday March 5th the Budget Advisory Committee was given a presentation on why   the City Began getting involved in repairing community mail boxes. Committee Member and Rialto Police Benefit Association President Richard Royce brought this issue to the Committees attention and began the process of fishing out one of many ways the city is wasting taxpayers money.

What happened is that these Community Mailboxes have become a haven for criminals over the last few years in a state where you can steal peoples mail and get away with no jail time. So we put everyone’s mail in one location and then decrease the consequences for getting caught it has become a major problem that the post office never foresaw reaching the levels it has today.

The interesting thing here is why did the city get involved in doing something that is clearly a post office issue and why they once again feel it necessary to lie about it? What happened was the post office wasn’t moving fast enough for the Mayor and some of her friends here in the city. A few group of residents in the Las Colinas area of Rialto didn’t like the answer that the post office had a 6 month wait for Community Mail Box Repair and Replacement. So the mayor directed Public Works staff to purchase and replace these boxes after hours on overtime.

What happened next is people talk and then what started as a favor from our Mayor to her friends became a public program that we don’t have the money for. If it wasn’t for RPBA Union President Richard Royce sniffing out this missuse of funds we may have never known that $30k was spent on a program that was not the cities responsibility in the 1st place. Now the Mayor is trying to take a fake victory lap for something she had nothing to do with. The Post Office has ruffly $1.3 million in boxes that will be used to replace damaged boxes.

Makes you wonder what else we don’t know about……………

Image

Glimmer of Hope in the Midst of Tragedy

Photos by: Horacio Garcia

Follow his work at Instagram.com/horacio_photos

A local photographer captured a bright moment in a horrible situation last Friday as a truck crash in Rialto turns fatal. Photographer Horacio Garcia just happened to be in the area and this is what he said:

I happened to be on the Riverside Avenue overpass overlooking the wreckage when I saw the officer in the distance coming up the eastbound on-ramp with something in his arms and its head bobbing with each step he took. That’s when I saw the dog in his arms. I’m not sure which car the dog came from.

All to often the story of tragedy takes center stage and the small wins within that tragedy seem to go unnoticed. The Rialto Police Officer pictured carrying the dog is Motor Officer Shaun Mooney. Officer Mooney is a great officer and has been working traffic for the last few years. People from the community have had the chance to get to know this officer through his attendance at many local events and police sponsored meetings. It isn’t surprising that Officer Mooney was captured in this moment as this is just the type of Public Servant the community says they know him to be.

The other side of this story that is equally awesome yet not surprising to the community of Rialto is the dedication of the Animal Control Officers in Rialto. These officers never seem to back down from doing their jobs or refuse a request to help out in an area that may not be their area of responsibility. Animal Control Officer Erica Bluff-Hopp responded to the accident scene even though normally Animal Control does not respond to traffic accident especially on the Freeways those areas are normally handled by Local Fire, the CHP and Caltrans but this accident was anything but normal and required all hands on deck.

It is simply amazing to see how our 1st responders jump into action in situations many of us may never know about. Animal Control is not given the credit they deserve many times for advocating and help animals that have no voice and are at the mercy of compassionate human care. This moment in time also speaks to what our police officers do, they are more than simply a person to offer up a consequence for bad choices. They also do things for people that go unseen or unspoken. This dog was taken away from a crazy accident scene and placed in a place of safety, this dogs owners didn’t have to worry about their animal because strangers decided to step up and help this animal and their family.

We found out later that this dogs owners were the people who passed away in the Red car. The two people inside the car passed away and our thoughts and prayers are with the family who we found out has experienced a lot of unexpected loss recently. The upside is that because Officer Mooney and Animal Control Officer Erica Bluff-Hopp this animal survived such a horrible accident and was reunited with family shortly after the accident.

 

Image