Dj vu for DHS police standoff, we ask why

A repeat criminal at the center of two recent police stand-offs, the last one occurring Wednesday in Desert Hot Springs, is back in jail. News Channel 3 and CBS Local 2 ask why the man was let out of jail to begin with. Did the system fail or did it work the way it was supposed to?

This is all tied to AB109 and Prop 47, the former aimed at reducing California’s prison population, the latter changes some felonies to misdemeanors; both controversial.

We’ve learned it has created a revolving door that some say has become the norm for our justice system.

After a three-hour standoff Wednesday, 37-year-old Louie Pecasdor along with two others walked out in handcuffs.

“Initially my reaction was, ‘well that can’t be true because we’ve arrested him and he’s in jail’,” said Desert Hot Springs Police Chief Dale Mondary.

It was dj vufor police. In August, at the same apartment complex, there was another standoff with Pescador because of a weapon probation violation.

“It’s ridiculous as a society to allow adults over and over and over again to violate the law and not be punished for it,” said Mondary.

So why, what happened?

We found out at the time of the first standoff in August, Pecasdor was on probation, released from state prison because of AB109.

After his arrest, he made bail. Then he was arrested again for possessing a firearm in December. He posted bail for that charge just last week. Both of those cases are still pending.

“It is frustrating, I understand the intent of AB109 and Prop 49, but in some of these situations that involve felons and firearms, it’s my opinion that we as a society have to have zero tolerance for that, because here we are fast forwarding a few months later and here we are back at the same house dealing with the same incident with the same person,” said Mondary.

But it’s not that simple.

“Everyone is entitled to bail. He made his bail, he got out, our probation officers are trying to make sure that they know where he is at, what he is up to,” said Riverside County Probation Department spokeswoman Beth Stevens.

“In this case, if we find they committed a new violation and they bail out, then we are going to monitor them even more closely,” she said.

That monitoring is the reason Pescador is back behind bars and Stevens attributes it to AB109.

“Our goal is to get them out of custody, envelope them in community services and positive change programs to stop the revolving door. But if they are not going to go along with that, if they are not going to report to us, if they are not going to, then we are going to arrest them,” said Stevens.

“It does take a lot of resources. I don’t know the answer , I couldn’t even begin to fathom an answer,” said Mondary.

As to if Pescador will get early release again for his pending charges, they’ve added a probation violation to try to prevent that, but it will be up to the courts. He is still innocent until proven guilty.

Pescador is due in court Friday.