Police chiefs have warned that cuts proposed to balance the state budget will leave Californians less safe.

That's probably true. In an effort to help fill a $24 billion deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed releasing some low-level offenders early and shifting more prisoners to already overcrowded county jails, which will lead to the early release of some of those prisoners. The governor is also considering revising sentencing guidelines so some crimes that were once felonies could be prosecuted as misdemeanors - meaning less or no jail time.

And the Legislature has proposed cutting in half the state crime lab budget, which will slow the processing of rape evidence kits in some areas and force smaller police agencies to pay for the processing of crime scene evidence that is now free.

So, yes, there will be more criminals on the streets and law enforcement will have fewer tools to catch and keep those who re-offend. That will surely mean a less safe state.

But we can hardly complain after voting down Propositions 1A through 1E in the May 19 special election. Schwarzenegger wasn't bluffing when he warned the state could go "off the cliff."

The measures on the May 19 ballot proposed a series of fixes, including temporarily extending tax increases and borrowing from the lottery, to help balance the budget. It was a distasteful, patchwork package, but it would have prevented the kinds of public safety cuts now being considered.

The Legislature's proposal to cut $20 million from the Justice Department's crime lab will likely mean lab closures and layoffs. Smaller police departments that do not have their own crime labs rely on the state to process their crime scene evidence and rape evidence kits. The state currently processes that evidence for free, but the cuts will force the state to charge for the service. And most local agencies are facing their own cuts and don't have the money to spare.

The Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department have their own labs, but the state has helped fast-track the processing of rape kits collected by some hospitals in the region. Both agencies have a tremendous backlog of untested rape evidence kits, and any slowing of kit testing could increase that backlog.

That means justice delayed. Get used to it, California.