Arrest rates have plummeted since California voters approved Proposition 47 in 2014. The next year, in 2015, arrests in the state plummeted by 52,000 to a number below any year since 1960. Is Prop 47 to blame? Magnus Lofstrom, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California says the correlation is irrefutable.

“What’s behind it is really the Prop 47 that is downgrading a number of these offenses, making them less of a priority for law enforcement.”

Those offenses include shoplifting, which is up nearly 12 percent and thefts, which rose almost 11 percent in 2015.

Lofstrom is reluctant to tie Prop 47 to the rise in crime, however.

“When we look at property crime, California does stand out a little more (than other states), at least when we look at preliminary numbers. But those changes we see in other states as well, so to what extent Prop 47 is behind these changes is really unclear at this point.”

He said that more time is needed to study the data.

Lofstrom was a guest on 790 KABC’s McIntyre in the Morning Show with Doug McIntyre and Terri-Rae Elmer.