Pasadena Now: District Attorney Announces Reorganization, Renaming of Hardcore Gang Division
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon announced today that the office’s Hardcore Gang Division has been renamed the Community Violence Reduction Division as part of a reorganization that will embed prosecutors in some of the county’s most challenged areas.
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Eric Siddall, vice president of the Los Angeles Association of Deputy District Attorneys, the union representing county prosecutors, spoke out against Gascon’s plans earlier this month.
“The remarkable change is that at a time when gang murders are reaching levels that we haven’t seen in 10, 20 years, (Gascon) has decided to cut the gang unit to fulfill a political promise that he’s given to fringe groups,” he said.
“It is typical of what this administration does. It does not make decisions based upon public safety. It does not make decisions about what is good for the case,” said Siddall, who spent five years as a prosecutor in the gang division. “It makes decisions based upon what it feels will poll well with the public.”
