Bonta praises law enforcement's success in California

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(The Center Square) – California Attorney General Rob Bonta is applauding law enforcement for its efforts to combat violent crime, crack cold cases, seize drugs and disrupt human trafficking.

Speaking Tuesday at a press conference in Los Angeles, Bonta said federal, state and local authorities have done great work over the last five years.

"As the chief law officer for the state of California, public safety is job No. 1, 2 and 3,” said Bonta, while flanked by uniformed police officers.

Bonta's comments, though, didn't satisfy critics, who say the attorney general is spending too much time on lawsuits against the Trump administration and not enough on crime.

But according to Bonta, the California Department of Justice made more than 1,160 human trafficking arrests over the past five years and provided aid to nearly 1,200 survivors.

Since 2021, state agents also seized over 17.8 million fentanyl pills, 7,220 pounds of fentanyl powder – enough to “kill more than 1.6 billion people” – and made 620 arrests, Bonta said.

"Fentanyl is cheap, and it is potent, and it is deadly,” said Bonta. “The drug is so dangerous that one pill can kill."

In addition, more than 10,200 illegal firearms have been removed from communities in the last five years, Bonta said. He described the firearms as “ghost guns, assault weapons, and machine guns” that will no longer harm children, families and neighbors.

Regarding cold cases, Bonta said that nearly 9,000 sexual assault kits have been processed, 10,000-plus DNA analysis requests completed and more than 37,500 DNA database matches logged to provide answers to victims’ families.

“There’s no expiration date on justice,” said Bonta.

The last five years also resulted in nearly 1,300 arrests for illegal cannabis. Bonta said 4.6 million illegally cultivated cannabis plants were seized.

Despite the figures, critics and policy experts quickly challenged the attorney general’s claims.

“Bonta has done nothing but sue the Trump administration instead of doing the job he was selected, then elected, to do," said Roxanne Hoge, chairman of the Los Angeles County Republican Party.

"It shall be the duty of the Attorney General to see that the laws of the State are uniformly and adequately enforced,” Hoge said in an email Tuesday to The Center Square. “He's now pretending to care about public safety, but his actions speak louder than his many words.”

Hoge called it rather disingenuous to proudly support "sanctuary" laws when those are for the sole purpose of subverting federal immigration law.

“Anyone who truly cares about ending the corruption, crime and grime that's become synonymous with our formerly golden state should vote for his opponent, Michael Gates,” said Hoge. Gates is the Republican candidate running against Bonta, a Democrat, in the Nov. 3 general election.

In terms of Bonta’s remarks about guns, Second Amendment Foundation founder Alan Gottlieb said that Bonta has not helped the situation.

"California Attorney General Rob Bonta using the term 'gun safety' instead of his gun prohibition agenda is an attempt to disguise his attacks on law-abiding gun ownership,” Gottlieb told The Center Square Tuesday. “The real question that he refuses to answer is how many people became victims because they were defenseless when confronted by violent criminals."

Steve Smith, senior fellow in Urban Studies at the Pasadena, Calif.-based Pacific Research Institute, took issue with Bonta’s claims about human trafficking.

“The Assembly Public Safety Committee initially blocked SB 14, increasing consequences for trafficking children,” Smith told The Center Square via email. “Mia Bonta declined to support it before public outrage forced reconsideration.”

Assemblymember Mia Bonta, D-Oakland, is Bonta's wife.

“While the attorney general now touts fentanyl seizures, his wife Mia Bonta served on the Public Safety Committee that resisted tougher fentanyl penalties and co-authored legislation permitting supervised sites for consuming illegal drugs,” said Smith. “Public safety has looked rather different depending on which Bonta was making policy.”

The Center Square reached out to Mia Bonta Tuesday afternoon, but did not hear back by publication time.

Smith said “DOJ agents deserve credit" for their efforts against crime, but Attorney General Rob Bonta's scorecard measures their activity, not necessarily the success of California's policies.

“Arrests aren't convictions, seizures aren't sentences, and five years of activity isn't five years of success. Just ask the families of the overdose victims,” said Smith. “If public safety really is jobs one, two and three, show us the results and stop hiding the revolving door of arrests without sanctions.”

In California, a person must be 21 or older to purchase, possess, or consume recreational marijuana. Individuals 18 or older with a valid doctor’s recommendation can purchase medicinal marijuana.

In July, Kevin Sabet, president and CEO of Smart Approaches To Marijuana, said he was not surprised to hear about illegal marijuana in California.

“This is exactly what we predicted, and exactly what the legalization lobby promised would never happen,” Sabet told The Center Square. “Californians were told a legal, taxed market would wipe out the black market. Instead, up to 80% of the marijuana sold in California today comes from the illicit market.”