Visalia considers longer ban on people who commit crimes at parks

FRESNO, Calif. -- Currently, anyone who commits a serious crime at a park, is banned from coming back to the park for 24 hours. Monday night, the Visalia City Council is voting to increase that ban to one year.

Code Enforcement is hoping to deter illegal activity from certain parks that have become problem areas. "It's only for crimes of violence, sex acts such as prostitution or illegal drug use." said Tracy Robertshaw, Visalia Code Enforcement.

"I think some of the main problems is you talk about the drug use, talk about the bad things, but they're not addressing the core problem and that is mental illness out here," said Joe Ortiz, Visalia.

Violators of the new ordinance could face fines up to $500 dollars.