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Commonwealth’s office warns of VOA/VOCA funding drop and growing body‑camera review burden
Summary
The Commonwealth's Attorney briefed council on a largely flat operating budget but flagged two risks: a decline in VOCA victim‑services funding that supports the office’s victim‑witness program and an increase in body‑worn camera footage prosecutors must review (estimated at about 46,000 hours), which strains staffing and case-preparation time.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Colin Staley briefed council that his proposed operating budget preserves current staff levels for the coming year but highlighted two program risks that may require future city support: a precipitous drop in VOCA funding that sustains the office’s victim‑witness program, and rapidly growing volumes of body‑worn camera footage prosecutors must review.
Staley said the victim‑witness program, which supports victims through court proceedings, is about 4% of his office budget and runs on funding from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services that is tied to federal VOCA receipts. “VOCA funds are drastically, dropping,” he said, and he warned the city could face a gap in service if Congress and federal agencies do not stabilize that revenue stream. He said the office could come back to council in future budget cycles seeking local support to maintain current levels of service.
On evidence review, Staley said the prosecutor assigned to a case must handle the case’s body‑camera recordings and that the office expects to receive about 46,000 hours of body‑worn camera footage for cases this year, up from roughly 42,000 hours last year. He said the office has worked with council and city staff on staffing and technology supports and that those measures have made the workload manageable so far, but that the volume remains a significant time and staffing pressure for prosecutors.
Staley urged council to factor the two pressures into future budget planning and said he and his staff were monitoring federal VOCA deliberations and evolving body‑camera workflows.
