Camden County DA Seeks Major Staffing Increase as Commissioners Question Funding and Oversight

District Attorney Keith Higgins asked the Camden County Board of Commissioners at a special called work session for fiscal-year 2026 funding to expand his office, saying additional prosecutors and support staff are needed to reduce a backlog of cases and prosecute violent crimes.

Higgins told the commission he seeks four additional assistant district attorneys, three investigators, two legal assistants, two victim-witness advocates and an intake clerk, plus county-funded supplements for certain positions and a proportional share of circuit-level staff costs. “We enforce the law by prosecuting crimes when there's sufficient evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” Higgins said, describing prosecution as one prong of public safety that must be funded alongside policing.

The request surfaced multiple budget and oversight questions. Commissioners asked where previously approved positions and money went, why the DA office was not receiving monthly disbursements, and whether asset-forfeiture or ARPA funds had been used. Higgins said some positions are state-paid, that ARPA funds distributed through the Administrative Office of Courts funded certain temporary hires (and that those funds expired), and that asset-forfeiture money is legally limited to capital items and certain supplements and therefore could not be used to hire ongoing county staff.

Higgins said Camden County currently has four ADA positions on paper…