If they are not going to put shoplifters in jail, what is going to stop them?
Also, I would not call “resisting arrest” non-violent. Many police officers are now going fetal, as they call it. Why do your job when the criminals have the city officials on their side?
It’s not that she’s not going to put them in jail.
“...and a controversial policy of no longer prosecuting people for lower-level non-violent crimes....”
If she’s not going to prosecute them, how does she propose forcing them to do community service or pay restitution?
Some people will stop the first time they are handcuffed and put in the back of the cruiser. Why not try that first? If the police cannot handle the prosecutor having a sense of proportion, then they should find something else to do. The goal should not be to have the maximum number of people serving the maximum time possible.
That said,the pendulum can also swing too far the other way, and that is not good, either.