City has the second highest ratio of parolees per 1,000
residents in Santa Clara County
Morgan Hill – The only city in the county with less than one police officer per 1,000 residents – Morgan Hill – has the second highest ratio of parolees per 1,000 residents at 5.17 and the busiest officers, according to a report prepared by the Morgan Hill Police Department.Â
“People on parole are often repeat offenders,” MHPD Chief Bruce Cumming said Wednesday. “It’s been my experience that they are associated more with the use of drugs and breaking into houses and businesses.”
The report was prepared, Cumming said, not necessarily because he was looking for a reason for the escalation of property crimes, but because of a trend he saw.
“It is just simply something that I noticed; it seemed like we were dealing with a lot of parolees every day,” he said. “It was surprising to me to see that we have about 186 in Morgan Hill, which equates to five parolees per 1,000 residents. I was a bit taken aback by the numbers.”
Gilroy has the highest ratio of parolees, with 348, or 7.85 per thousand residents. Cumming said the report did not include San Jose because of its size, over 900,000 residents.
“The law dictates which county they return to,” said Shirley Poe, media coordinator for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. “They are returned to the county of their last legal residence. A lot of people think we just arbitrarily return them wherever, but that is just not the case. There can be some cases that are exceptions, but that can only be five percent of the cases or less.”
Although Poe said the law specifies the parolee be returned to the county of last legal residence and not the city, the parolees must give an address before they leave the jail.
“They would not have the resources, before they are released, to go someplace else,” she said. “They usually go to family, to mom’s house, to a sister, brother or something. Most parolees don’t say, ‘Let’s just live in Morgan Hill,’ and go
