(KRON) — Governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to send state prosecutors into Alameda County to convict Oakland criminals is like using a band-aid to fix a broken arm, the county’s top public defender said Thursday.
Newsom’s dedication of state lawyers for prosecuting local cases will fuel “mass incarceration” and devastate minority communities, Alameda County Chief Public Defender Brendon Woods said.
Newsom is sending more than 100 state law enforcement officers — California Highway Patrol officers — to make more arrests, as well as state prosecutors to convict criminals in court.
“They’re trying to use a band-aid to fix a broken arm. More prosecution and more police is not the solution here. We need housing, money for community-based organizations, higher wages, employment, as well as money for our schools, medical care and mental health,” Woods said.
“People turn to crime because they have a sense of hopelessness,” Woods said. “Locking them up, taking away their prospects for employment and making their families’ lives difficult actually makes our communities less safe in the long run.”