El Cajon, Escondido Lead County’s Prop. 36 Arrests Per Capita

Since a new law went into effect last December, law enforcement agencies across San Diego County have differed in how they’ve used it to make arrests.

Last November, California voters approved Proposition 36, which reclassified some drug and theft crimes from misdemeanors to felonies. It also created the classification of a “treatment mandated felony” for those with two or more prior drug offense convictions, allowing those convicted to opt for rehabilitation rather than prison time. 

El Cajon and Escondido police officers have made more arrests on Proposition 36 offenses per capita than any other city in the county, a Voice of San Diego analysis found.

From December 2024 to June 2025, El Cajon’s arrest rate was 16 per 10,000 residents and Escondido’s was 12 per 10,000 residents. 

Calculating those totals relative to each city’s population, Voice used the comparison of 10,000 residents because it was the lowest figure that would provide a whole number for each police department’s arrests which translates to the number of people.

When looking at the raw numbers, these two cities have the fourth and third highest arrest numbers, respectively. However, they jump to the top of the list considering how many people reside in those cities.

San Diego Police Department leads in Proposition 36 arrests countywide looking at the sheer numbers with over 500 arrests since the law went into effect. It’s also the jurisdiction with the largest population. El Cajon is fourth in raw numbers but once it’s compared to the population of people they serve El Cajon becomes the leader.

Per 10,000 residents, nearly 16 people are arrested under Proposition 36 in El Cajon. That’s 12 more people than SDPD arrests per capita.

El Cajon Police Department Lt. Nick Sprecco said that he can’t attribute the higher arrest rate to anything directly. 

“Once this law was implemented, we didn’t start doing anything differently, other than we took advantage of it being a tool for us to use, and all that is is one additional step when officers are interacting with people,” he said.

Sprecco said that this additional step is running a check on people officers have placed under arrest for a theft or drug offense. If there’s a previous charge, they are booked under a Proposition 36 charge.

Escondido Police Department has the second highest rate per capita of Proposition 36 arrests with 12 people arrested for every 10,000. Escondido Police Department Capt. Erik Witholt attributed this to the city’s history of being a spot for selling, buying and possessing drugs.

Proposition 36 covers repeat offenders of drug and theft crimes. As a whole San Diego county sees a majority of these arrests related to drug crimes.

“I think a lot of these cases that are popping up on Prop 36 are people whose past has caught up with them, and now they’re being held to a standard that they weren’t used to before Prop. 36 went into effect,” Witholt said.

Taking a closer look at specific hotspots for Proposition 36 arrests, there’s one ZIP code that sees the most Proposition 36 arrests in both raw numbers and per capita. It’s 92101, the downtown area of the city of San Diego. 

When looking at the entire jurisdiction of the San Diego Police Department, the arrest rate for Proposition 36 is nearly 4 people per 10,000. For 92101 in particular it’s nearly 39 people per 10,000. El Cajon as an entire jurisdiction has the highest arrests per capita, and they also have the second and third highest arrest numbers for their ZIP codes 92021 and 92020. Unlike the city of San Diego, when calculated per capita, these numbers don’t stray far from the jurisdiction’s arrest rate.

Lt. Travis Easter of the San Diego Police Department said that the higher proportion of arrests in 92101 is due to the fact that it’s one of the more populous areas of the city and has more people frequenting the area. 

According to the U.S. Census, the most populous ZIP code in the city of San Diego is 92105, which includes City Heights and Kensington, however this doesn’t account for how many people pass through.

Across the county, Proposition 36 arrest numbers notably vary between police departments. But when looking at arrest rates per capita, it’s pretty standard across the county with most agencies averaging four people arrested per 10,000. Two cities, Chula Vista and Coronado, fall below these numbers with about 1 person per 10,000.

These arrest numbers do not signify how many people land in prison or are convicted on Proposition 36 charges, nor do they highlight how many people with drug offenses receive treatment.

“We’re doing business regardless of whether there’s a funding source. When you talk about now the DA has to figure out more prosecutions, the County jail has to figure out more housing, the treatment part of that needs to get figured out so on and so forth. In that respect, it doesn’t really affect us,” Escondido Capt. Witholt said.

The post El Cajon, Escondido Lead County’s Prop. 36 Arrests Per Capita appeared first on Voice of San Diego.