With crime surging and criticism against LA’s district attorney mounting, some cities want to take prosecutorial matters into their own hands.
Pico Rivera council members have asked City Manager Steve Carmona to study the feasibility of hiring a city attorney to prosecute misdemeanor crimes when the County DA fails to do so. The Whittier City Council is also studying the possibility, the Whittier Daily News reports.
“I'm not just going to sit idly behind and watch crime skyrocket, watch criminals come and take advantage of my neighbors and do nothing," Pico Rivera Councilman Andrew Lara told Fox News. He said the county’s district attorney George Gascón is "not doing his job."
After Gascón took office, he directed the county’s prosecutors not to prosecute a number of misdemeanor crimes, ranging from drug possession to criminal threats and resisting arrest.
The office declined to file charges in more than 38,000 misdemeanor cases covered by the directive between Dec. 7, 2020 and early Nov. 2021, according to an analysis from LAist.
The cities of Pico Rivera and Whittier have both issued votes of no confidence against against Gascón.