HomeMy WebLinkAboutDA Staffing Request MemoRequest: Add one DDA FTE as of January 5, 2015
Deputy District Attorney (DDA) staffing levels have been stagnant at the Deschutes County District
Attorney’s Office since FY 2008 when the number increased from 15 to 16. Workload from 2008 to 2014
has increased significantly based upon the increase in referrals from law enforcement and Deschutes
County population growth. Deschutes County’s population has increased by 30,000 in the past ten years
and growth is expected to continue. In response to the population growth, we have seen an increase in
the number of law enforcement officers in Deschutes County. We have also seen increased complexity
of investigations due to the prevalence of electronic evidence (many cases now have cell phone and
computer data as important evidence). More officers means more case referrals and more complexity
means each case takes longer to prepare and present in court. We had 7,737 case referrals to our office
in 2013 and we have had 12,137 so far this year.
The District Attorney’s Office also relieved county counsel of the responsibility for civil commitment
proceedings adding to the DA’s office workload. Our Deputy District Attorneys have reviewed over 600
peace officer/mental holds in 2014 and handled approximately 21 civil commitment hearings.
Every month, Deputy District Attorneys lead or attend Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) meetings, such as
Child Fatality Review, Elder Abuse, Sexual Assault Response, Crisis Intervention and Domestic Violence
Council. These meetings are beneficial to the community and it is important that we participate, but
they take over 150 hours of prosecutor time away from the office, every year. The state-mandated
MDTs alone require the office to donate more than 100 hours of Deputy D.A. time per year.
In December of 2014 the District Attorney’s Office will be down one position due to Administrative
leave. The combination of additional responsibilities, growth and the loss of an experienced attorney
for 6 months results in an immediate need to add one Deputy D.A. to continue to meet our current level
of service to the community and avoid any reduction in public safety. Some District Attorney’s Offices
have chosen to forego prosecution of some “low level” crimes, such as shoplifting and the possession of
small amounts of methamphetamine or heroin. These crimes dramatically affect the quality of life in our
community and it would be a very undesirable way to try to solve the problem.
Population size significantly affects the number of violent and property crimes.i As our population
increases, crime increases and the workload for the District Attorney’s Office increases. Court filings are
one measure of that workload: In 2011, we filed 5,077 cases with the courts; we are projected to file
over 5,600 cases in 2014.
Using historical data to review the number of DDAs required to complete the majority of the
responsibilities of the District Attorney’s Office based upon population alone, the BOCC and the Budget
Committee were on track when the number of DDAs was increased to 16 in 2008. By population alone,
the number of DDAs should increase with the population to 19 by 2015.
As the community grows, our local law enforcement is growing, as well. The Sheriff’s Office, Bend Police
Department, Redmond Police Department and Sunriver Police Department all expect to either add
personnel or to deploy their personnel in such a way that case referrals to the District Attorney’s Office
will increase significantly in coming years.
i M.B. Chamlin & J.K. Cochran / Western Criminology Review, 5(2) 119 - 130 (2004)
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
175
200
2005 2010 2015 2020
Population x1000
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