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California National Guard prosecutors will focus on county following 'surge operations,' bringing concern from PDs

By Debra Cassens Weiss

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Prosecutors with the California National Guard’s Counterdrug Task Force will help prosecute state cases originating in Alameda County, California, according to an announcement Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Image from Shutterstock)

Prosecutors with the California National Guard’s Counterdrug Task Force will help prosecute state cases originating in Alameda County, California, according to an announcement Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The decision follows an increase in shifts for California Highway Patrol officers in Oakland, California, as part of “surge operations,” according to an Aug. 2 press release. The prosecutors will be working with the California Department of Justice.

In the first six months of the surge, California Highway Patrol officers made 562 arrests, recovered 1,142 stolen cars and seized 55 guns thought to be connected to crimes, according to the press release.

Publications with coverage include Courthouse News Service, the Mercury News, NBC Bay Area, CBS News and KRON.

Newsom said he quickly reached a memorandum of understanding with California Attorney General Rob Bonta to use the prosecutors after Newsom was unable to formalize a deal with Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price.

Price said in a statement, however, she hopes that “the swift agreement reached between the Department of Justice and California [National] Guard yields equally swift results.” Her office is willing to assist in any way possible, the statement said.

The Alameda County public defenders office has objections. Chief Public Defender Brendon Woods said the additional prosecutions will increase the workload for his office.

“I am deeply disturbed by the recent actions taken by the governor, ranging from sending more police to Oakland, the order to clear homeless encampments and now once again sending prosecutors to the East Bay to ‘speed up’ prosecutions,” Woods told Courthouse News Service. “He appears to be helicoptering in and throwing more resources at prosecuting and incarceration, rather than real solutions.”

Related topics:

States | Criminal Justice | Prosecutors | Public Defenders | Government | California | Local Government | State Government

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