Santa Ana mayor pushes back on critics: 'I never said taking him to jail works'
On the Juice Unlocked podcast, Santa Ana's mayor pushed back on critics who say her public safety approach comes down to arrests, saying residents simply want to feel safe at home, at school and at the store.
On the Juice Unlocked podcast, Santa Ana's mayor pushed back on critics who say her public safety approach comes down to arrests, saying residents simply want to feel safe at home, at school and at the store.
Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua says residents deserve to feel safe, and she is pushing back on critics who say her answer is jail. In a Juice Unlocked podcast clip posted Sept. 13, she rejected the idea that her approach to public safety is simply about "taking people to jail," as the post put it.
"No, I never said taking him to jail works," Amezcua said. Her point, she said, is about what her constituents, the people who live and vote in Santa Ana, are asking for.
What she said
Amezcua listed what she says residents do not want to deal with: people defecating in their front yards, needles in view of children walking to school, robberies and assaults.
She also made it personal. She said she wants her own family to be safe, and that when she shops at Northgate on a Sunday afternoon she does not want to worry about someone trying to rob her on the way out, or about someone breaking into her home "because he needs a fix."
Amezcua said it hurts when people describe her position as simply wanting people locked up. She asked critics to think about their own families and whether they would want to be assaulted.
“No, I never said taking him to jail works.”
The clip
The 64-second excerpt does not lay out specific policies, programs or council votes, and Juice Unlocked has not independently confirmed any. The post's cover graphic pairs the interview with a photo of a crowded tent encampment outside a building with DMV signs; the clip does not say where that photo was taken.
As of early November, the clip had drawn more than 39,000 views and 381 comments on Instagram.
“They don't want their children to see a needle in your arm as they're walking them to school.”
“They want to be safe and we deserve it.”
“So it hurts when people are like, oh, she wants to go to jail. And I mean, it hurts like, no, pay attention.”
Watch the full interview
Sources
- Wikipedia: Santa Ana, California
Filed under Santa Ana
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