Pima County Attorney’s Message

It is an honor and a privilege to represent you as your County Attorney. My staff and I work hard to justify the confidence you have placed in us during the past ten years. I am pleased to report that our office consistently excels in all
performance measures and exceeds the performance of other public law offices.

With public safety as my top priority, my emphasis has been on vigorous prosecution and defendant accountability, with special attention given to helping victims, limiting plea bargaining, prosecuting crimes against children, preventing
juvenile crime, and increasing efficiency and effectiveness by promoting the careful use of taxpayer dollars.

The Pima County Attorney’s Office continues to maintain the lowest plea bargaining rate in Arizona. We focus on violent and potentially violent crimes, signifi cantly increasing the rate at which those cases are taken to trial in order to hold violent predators and dangerous repeat offenders strictly accountable for their crimes by ensuring they receive the maximum prison time.

Over the last decade, we have prosecuted substantial cases and sought system reforms to better protect the public and ensure equal justice. As I complete my third term as Pima County Attorney, my commitment to these goals has not wavered.

This report focuses on the programs and policies initiated and expanded upon during the fi rst ten years of my service as your County Attorney. We pride ourselves on being creative, and some of our programs and initiatives are the first of their kind in the nation.

Our agenda is one of action and innovation. We created new programs such as the Safe Baby Program, Amber Alert, Bad Check, CARGO, SMART, Act Now Truancy, and Community Justice Boards, and initiated Drug Court programs. We have expanded and improved upon existing programs such as 88-CRIME, Victim Witness, and Child Advocacy programs.

There have been monumental changes in the Pima County Attorney’s Office as we entered a new century. Prominent among these changes are the increased use of DNA and the prosecution of “cold cases.”

Identity theft and predatory internet crimes against children, and dealing with ever increasing drug and methamphetamine use present growing challenges that the County Attorney’s Offi ce confronts and meets because sufficient groundwork has been laid.

New initiatives and innovative programs for juveniles – both as offenders and potential victims – were created and have been expanded.

Tough enforcement actions and intensive collaboration with the multi-agency gang and drug task forces improved responses to those crimes.

Fresh approaches were taken to address child abuse and neglect. Our office, working together with local law enforcement agencies, child welfare agencies and healthcare professionals, developed new protocols to address child abuse, domestic violence and drug-endangered children. This is one of the best ways we have found to protect the abused, neglected and endangered children of Pima County.

This report documents our efforts to combat crimes of violence, fraud, and theft at every level.

As you will see, we take our mission to protect the public safety very seriously at the Office of the Pima County Attorney. This report gives you an overview of our responsibility on behalf of the residents of Pima County. After reading it, I invite you to learn more about our work by visiting our website (www.pcao.pima.gov) or by signing up for our Community Prosecutor’s Academy offered twice a year.

Through the tireless efforts of our employees and collaborative working relationships with other County departments, local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, and the public and private sectors, we work to make our community safer and strive to improve the quality of life in our community.

Let me commend and thank my staff. They are dedicated public servants who work tirelessly to consistently exceed what is asked of them. I am very proud of what they have accomplished. These have been ten very successful years for criminal justice in Pima County.

Barbara LaWall, Pima County Attorney