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District Attorney asks for staff to handle auto‑burglary caseload, warns body‑cam review and diversion will strain resources
Summary
DA George Gascón told supervisors an overwhelmed one‑attorney auto‑burglary unit needs three additional attorneys; he also warned that the DA’s office faces growing body‑worn camera redaction workloads and a likely surge in AB 1810 mental‑health diversion petitions.
District Attorney George Gascón briefed the Budget & Finance Committee on prosecution priorities and administrative strains, reiterating two budgetable requests and outlining new statutory workloads.
Gascón said his office’s dedicated auto‑burglary unit currently consists of a single attorney who handles roughly 33–50 cases while the city sees about 300 auto‑burglary cases annually; the DA requested three additional attorneys so that the specialized unit would function with four prosecutors.
"She's handling roughly 33 to 50 cases. Unfortunately, the workload is about 300 cases a year," Gascón told the committee, and he said the extra staffing would improve filing and prosecution outcomes in hotspot areas.
Gascón also described a large and growing administrative workload from body‑worn camera evidence. The office estimates about 3,200 hours of video review per month associated with arrests and said redaction and discovery obligations are consuming attorney and support time. He warned that attorneys are doing work that could be performed by trained paralegals or technical staff if funded.
On diversion, the DA outlined expectations under Assembly Bill 1810 (mental‑health diversion) and said the office anticipates between roughly 1,800 and 3,000 petitions a year as the new law is implemented, creating additional workload and a need for treatment placement capacity.
Supervisors asked the DA for conviction and filing metrics for burglaries and drug sales, and for data on bed availability and time‑to‑placement for diversion; the DA agreed to provide further statistics and to return with a fuller budget request justification.
