DA Zimmer talks COVID-19, Kern County crime with Republican Women

Jessica Weston City Editor Jessica_Weston9

Mar 13, 2020 at 6:21 PM

It's a pretty unusual news day in Kern County when the fact that the county has the highest murder rate per capita for California is not necessarily the scariest or most impactful story of the day.

But such was the case Friday when Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer spoke to the Ridgecrest Republican Women, Federated at Casey's. Around the time President Donald Trump was declaring a national emergency over the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, Zimmer told the group about Kern County's preparations for when and if the virus arrives here.

Although as of Friday at noon, no cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed in Kern County, Zimmer said that as the chief public safety official in the county she is in contact with public health executives, the chief executive officer for the county and superior court judges about "what we do in case this gets bad."

Zimmer said one concern is trying to keep the virus out of the jail system, where it could spread to law enforcement personnel, court officer and victims.

"We're very much on it. We're trying to do whatever we can to protect our employees, the public, victims of crime and that kind of thing," she said.

Zimmer said the district attorney's office is trying to limit traffic in the office to essential traffic only.

She also noted that "there are statutes in place that we follow if things get bad about closing the courts."

Another issue she noted that is yet to be worked out is balancing Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) rights which provide for patient confidentiality with protecting the public during an epidemic. She said that the exact legalities have not been worked out yet, saying for example its not clear if an employer can ask an employee if he or she tested positive for the virus.

Zimmer speculated that at some point HIPAA rights might have to be set aside during the epidemic but nothing has been decided yet.

In a lighter moment, Zimmer noted that when she expressed concern about COVID-19 to her 38-year-old daughter, her daughter replied, "You're worried about me? I'm worried about you. This is supposed to affect the elderly." This comment brought a huge laugh to the half-filled room. The Republican Women's luncheons usually attract a large crowd, but the one Friday had a lighter attendance, likely due to recent state and county announcements on the epidemic.

Zimmer: Kern County 'number one homicide county in California per capita'

Zimmer said Kern County is dealing with a crime increase, including more drug addictions and more crime.

She also noted that Kern county is the the number one homicide county in California per capita, later quoting a homicide rate of 11.1 homicides per 100,000 people from 2018. Zimmer said statistics reflect 2017 and 2018 numbers and 2019 statistics are not available yet.

Zimmer added that "the number one profile for a homicide victim in Kern County is hispanic male between 18 and 29 killed with a firearm on the sidewalk" and "the number one profile for a homicide defendant in Kern County is 18 to 29 year old hispanic male who shoots someone outside a residence on the sidewalk." She said the demographics for homicide victims more or less correspond to population statistics for Latino, African American and Caucasian residents.

Zimmer attributed the crime increase to laws such as AB109 and Proposition 47 which made felony possession of drugs misdemeanors and raised the threshold for grand theft to $950.

Zimmer said prop 47 has resulted in misdemeanor arrests receiving only a citation, which is a promise to appear. She said 80 percent of out-of-custody defendants fail to appear. The penalty for the failure to appear is another ticket, leading to some people with over 50 warrants for their arrest.

Zimmer said these multiple-arrestees feed the homeless population and may are "so drug-addicted and so messed up." Another, sometimes overlapping component of homelessness is mental illness.

Zimmer, along with many others in law enforcement, said that current laws restrict the courts ability to order court-ordered rehab, depriving many defendants of a chance to clean up.

She said she has hopes that the pendulum may swing back the other way.

"We have to hold people accountable . . . and when they have drug problems we have to be able to help them," she said.

Zimmer noted that "the number one problem we have in Kern County besides gangs is drug sales; they have cartels in Kern County. She added that "meth is cheaper than marijuana" on the streets now.

She said that between the drug supply and the demand "because drug addicts are not taken off the street . . . it's kind of a perfect storm."