Proposed state budget cuts would "irrevocably damage public safety in California", according to district attorneys across the state.
As President of the California District Attorneys Association, San Diego D.A. Bonnie Dumanis joined fellow prosecutors in sending a letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the legislature, opposing the elimination of prosecution grants.
Those grants pay for programs " in such critical areas as child abuse, gang violence, the proliferation of methamphetamine, crimes against our vital agricultural industry, and the escalating use of the Internet and technology to exploit children and the elderly," according to the letter.
Among the programs targeted are the Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement, the Gang Violence Suppression Program and the High Technology Theft Apprehension and Prosecution Program.
CDAA noted that the 2008-09 budget already reduced expenditures by 10 percent in many of these programs, according to the release from Dumanis' office.
A second letter criticized the plan to eliminate parole supervision for non-serious, non-violent and non-sex offenders.
"We cannot emphasize strongly enough," DA Dumanis said, "that whatever short-term savings might be realized from these cuts will be dwarfed by a corresponding increase in criminal activity in these areas."
