Compton : City Considers Reducing Penalties for Some Offenses
Drinking liquor in public, littering and several other offenses will become a little less risky if a new ordinance reducing the penalties for those crimes is adopted by the City Council.
The ordinance under consideration would reclassify such crimes--and others including repairing vehicles on the street and drinking in public--as infractions rather than misdemeanors. The new classification would mean that violators could be ticketed but no longer be arrested.
A vote on the proposed ordinance was delayed this week because City Atty. Wesley Fenderson Jr. wanted to add more crimes to the list of those to be downgraded.
Police Chief Hourie Taylor said he was not consulted on the issue and does not know why the city would choose to reduce the possible penalties for the offenses.
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