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DA to use extra funds to boost anti-gang unit By Troy Anderson Staff Writer Tuesday, November 30, 2004 - District Attorney Steve Cooley said Tuesday that he will beef up his anti-gang unit after the Board of Supervisors gave him $5 million to hire 45 more prosecutors. The $5 million-a-year allocation out of an unexpected $308 million surplus will help Cooley restore some of the 142 prosecutors he has lost to budget cuts since he was elected in 2000. "Virtually all of it came out of our front-line operations,' Cooley said. "We also suffered a significant reduction in our Hardcore Gang Division, which is renowned for their success. They have been reduced by nearly a third. "We'd like to rebuild that division. It's a priority to fight the gang problem with our best and most talented lawyers and still do our day-to-day prosecutions of 65,000 felonies we file each year and 240,000 misdemeanors which we are responsible for.' About $500,000 of the total will be spent to add staffers to the seven-member code-enforcement unit, which prosecutes violations pertaining to home construction, trash on lawns, unkept properties and abandoned vehicles. "They'll work very closely with the County Counsel's Office to see if it isn't possible to develop, really for the first time, a first-class code-enforcement operation in the county,' Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen said. Cooley has been seeking the additional felony prosecutors for years, but has been rebuffed by the supervisors who have said their constituents have long complained about a lack of priority in the D.A.'s Office to properly enforce county codes. Cooley opposed a plan to turn over code-enforcement duties to the County Counsel's Office, complaining that he would not have direct control over the actions of the attorneys but ultimately would be held responsible by the courts and public for their conduct. Under a compromise reached recently, the District Attorney's Code Enforcement Section will prosecute the cases while leaving the legwork and preparatory duties to the County Counsel's Office. "It's kind of a partnership to save money because it's less expensive to do it with help from the County Counsel's Office,' Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said. @Columnist tagline: Troy Anderson can be reached at (213) 974-8985, or by e-mail at troy.anderson@dailynews.com . News Topics | Home | Research | History | Blood Gangs | Crip Gangs | People| Life in a Gang | Gallery | Iraqi Cards | Memorial | Migration | Graffiti | Resume| Injunctions Homicides | Maps | California Prisons | Contact

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