The prison re-alignment efforts by the State are prompting the LAPD to spend 18 million to monitor ex-convicts in Los Angeles.
The expenditure comes as thousands of inmates are being transferred to local jails from state prisons in an attempt to help reduce the overall prisoner population in the state facilities and ease overcrowding.
The state has received a federal order to ease the massive overcrowding in the state prison system to increase the safety and quality of life of the prisoners therein.
The money will be used to pull dozens of officers from regular patrol duties and utilize them instead to provide a watchful eye on ex-cons living in Los Angeles and to check up on parolees to ensure they are adhering to the conditions of their parole.
The prisoners who are being transferred to county jails from state prisons are individuals that have been convicted of less-serious crimes and would generally not pose a threat to the community once released.
Because the prisoners are being held in a county facility, they will be monitored by county probation officers as opposed to state parole officers. According to reports, nearly 5,400 of those recently released convicts are living in the Los Angeles area.
Re-alignment, as it has come to be called, has been pushed on the LAPD who previously lacked the staff to handle that many ex-cons being released at once. Therefore, patrol officers are being reassigned to handle the situation.