California Governor Newsom Moves Alameda County Cases to State DOJ, Sparks Controversy
On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a shift in who will prosecute some criminal cases in Alameda County.
The governor stated that some of the prosecutions presented as part of an ongoing California Highway Patrol operation in Oakland will now be prosecuted by the state Department of Justice, including California National Guard prosecutors.
Friday’s declaration is the latest in a string of steps by Newsom to combat violent and organized crime in the East Bay, but it is met with fierce opposition from the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
For months, the governor has been deploying state resources to help Oakland with various crime problems, including bringing in extra CHP officers for a series of “surge” operations. According to Newsom, the raids resulted in 156 criminal arrests, and the Oakland police chief expressed gratitude during a July news conference.
However, Newsom stated at the time that Alameda County DA Pamela Price did not respond to his offer to bring in California Guard prosecutors, as he had done in San Francisco. So, after withdrawing the offer, Newsom indicated that he would proceed with an alternative strategy of prosecuting cases through the state Department of Justice.
“This is not the job of the AG’s office to assume all the responsibilities of the Alameda County DA’s office,” Newsom said to the audience. Quite the contrary, yet we aim to reduce the workload. We’d like to address some of the more complicated cases.”
Price has contested the governor’s assertions, claiming that his initial offer was both incorrect and misleading.
However, in response to NBC Bay Area’s request for comment on Friday, Price stated that her office welcomes state prosecutors. The statement that was issued begins with the following: “We hope the swift agreement reached between the Department of Justice and California Guard yields equally swift results, and my office is willing to assist in that effort in any way possible.”
Price did make it clear to the public that, despite all of the arrests linked to the CHP surge cases, only 11 were ever referred to her office for prosecution.