Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, is launching “Wednesdays with Wilk” to keep constituents updated on what’s going on in Sacramento.

His focus this week was a video message about public safety, which was spurred by the recent deaths of two area law enforcement officers suspected to have been caused by career criminals with lengthy rap sheets.

The suspects accused of gunning down the officers would have been in jail, “if it weren’t for a host of get-out-of-jail-free measures,” Wilk said in his video.

Wilk’s concerns, and future legislation, is aimed at solving problems that have been created by AB 109, Prop 47 and Prop 57, he explained. The state’s court-mandated jail-prison-parole realignment has created a public safety concern.

“The governor and the Democratic-controlled Legislature have partnered, through legislation and the ballot box, to release nearly 50,000 criminals from prison,” Wilk said. “The laws have not only put dangerous criminals in our neighborhood, they’ve made them nearly impossible to lock them up in the future.”

Wilk and Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, pushed for AB 2287 last year, before Wilk’s election to the state Senate in November.

Their bill, aimed at the “loopholes” voters and legislators have created for felons, WIlk said, could have prevented the deaths of Sgt. Owen of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Officer Boyer of the Whittier Police Department, Wilk added.

Lawmakers on the other side of the aisle refused to schedule the bill for a vote, he said.

“We can no longer afford to let our citizens become collateral damage,” Wilk said, “for a public safety experiment.”

From a previous story: Wilk Announces Crime Bill Aimed At Prop 47 ‘Loopholes’

With voters’ passage of Prop 47, in addition to lessening the penalties for all drug offenses, made theft of less than $950 a misdemeanor. The resulting misdemeanor penalty, a citation, is little deterrence for career criminals, Wilk said.

“People are stealing with impunity,” he said, noting several conversations he’s has with representatives from the Sheriff’s Department, who have expressed concern about the problem for local business owners.

“What’s even more troubling is that there seems to be the creation of an organized shopping theft rings,” he said, referring to news reports of mall thefts and a recent Target theft that left an employee assaulted.

These thieves are now aware and target goods to make sure their thefts are less than $950, which means when they are given a ticket and let go.

AB 2287 would address that by making it a felony charge for someone to be caught in an establishment if they have been caught stealing there within six months, or if someone one is accused of two or more locations, a conspiracy charge could result, which would be a felony.

Wilk is hopeful the Legislature will support the bill, which they’re introducing today, so that the measure could be put before voters in November.