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Bigger priority on vehicle burglaries: Solving crimes or harsher punishments?

Brandi Grissom at the Texas Tribune reports that the proposed House and Senate budgets both would zero out funds for the Texas Automobile Burglary and Theft Prevention Authority, despite exceptional, on-the-ground results since its inception in auto-theft cases, as depicted in this chart:That said, here's the real tradeoff facing the Legislature on the Authority's funding that Grissom didn't mention: Police chiefs and many legislators - led by Reps Debbie Riddle and Vicki Truitt - want to increase the penalty for burglary of a vehicle (that's stealing items from a vehicle, not auto theft) to a state-jail felony on the first offense. If that happened, it would send around 550-800 extra inmates per year to be incarcerated in Texas state jails...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on February 01, 2011 (boomark / email).