Pima County Attorney

The People's Office

Serving the residents of Tucson & surrounding communities across southern Arizona.

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Love of Reading Week with Pima County Attorney Laura Conover

Pima County Attorney Laura Conover reads “All Are Welcome” by Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman.

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Pima County Attorney's Office To Remain Closed Until After MLK Holiday

January 12, 2021

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COVID Outbreak Forces PCAO Staff to Telecommute until Wednesday

January 10, 2021

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New Pima County Attorney Laura Conover Begins Tenure with Slate of Reforms

January 4, 2021

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Pima County Attorney-elect Conover Addresses Staff, Introduces Leadership Team

December 17, 2020

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Justice in Pima County: Week 8 #FromLaura 2 month

Justice in Pima County: Week 8
#FromLaura

2 months are in the books. Recall that true transparency means sharing the good, the bad & the feo. And so, here it is.

• The Jail, Covid & Treatment for Substance Use Disorder

At the start of the pandemic, Ms. LaWall authored a memo to law enforcement reporting that she would largely not be charging simple drug possession. This did help keep people out of the Pima County Jail (PCJ), which is significant w/ detention facilities being one of the most dangerous places for virus contagion. Despite best efforts & setting a natl record for keeping the virus out of the jail for so long, Covid finally arrived in December.

Jail is not a place to house people w/ substance use disorders, but w/o any intervention at all, the overdose rate also spiked in our community. These matters are complex.

There is cautious optimism that the PCJ may have rid itself this week of the virus, & I will be working with our public health partners to track how long to wait to see whether we can rely on this positive sign. W/ the STEPs court opening (the County’s first pre-charge drug treatment court), it may soon be time to allow the jail to be a brief way station from drug possession on the street to meaningful inpatient treatment.

• Homicide Trends

The data from the 1st 6 weeks of 2021 look remarkably similar to the 1st 6 weeks of 2020, when the homicide rate spiked. In the 1st month, there were no obvious trends that PCAO was identifying in location, parties or motive. Now, there seems to be a trend towards domestic violence.

Tamara Mulembo, our Chief Deputy, is meeting late today w/ the Domestic Abuse Coalition (formerly RAMP), which includes all major DV community partners to make sure we are doing everything possible to help our community look out for one another. In a time of increased isolation due to the virus, wave hello, deliver food, help where you can, & in so doing, if you see something, say something.

PCAO Victim Services, 520-724-5525 (Ask for the Advocate of the Day)

Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse, 520-795-4266

#ToBeContinued
Laura

Creating safer communities takes a holistic approa

Creating safer communities takes a holistic approach from every corner of Pima County. As we continue to honor #BlackHistoryMonth, we find people like Belinda Lockett-Stevens doing the work to help achieve real justice.

Belinda is a high school counselor in Pima County who’s passionate about lifting up young people while advancing equity and equality. In 1995, she joined the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc, while at the University of Arizona. As a Delta, Belinda has worked alongside her fellow Deltas to establish financial literacy in the African American community and mentor students of color. She is also a member of the Tucson Educational Empowerment for Minorities (TEEM) organization, where she helps organize an annual African American Youth Heritage Day event at Pima Community College for Black youth.

Belinda also worked to establish the first Black Student Union at both Marana High School and Sunnyside High School, where her impact is still felt today. As a school counselor, Belinda has chaperoned and led college tours for students in low-income areas, and she’s educated students on scholarship opportunities and the college application process.

“The reason I do what I do is because the young people in our community are our future,” Belinda told PCAO Community Outreach Coordinator Patrick Robles this week. “And I know that if I keep reaching back and mentoring young people, our community will continue to reap the benefits of talented young people of color that just need a chance to play an equal game.”

#BHM
#ThisIsTucson

📸 by Colin Wolff

As we honor #BlackHistoryMonth, we continue to dis

As we honor #BlackHistoryMonth, we continue to discover residents across Pima County making history in 2021 and working hard to make this a stronger, safer community.

The legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers, the all-Black US Army cavalry regiments assembled in the post-Civil War era, invites difficult conversations about our history. More space for such conversations, in the form of Tucson’s first memorial to the Buffalo Soldiers, is going up at the Quincie Douglas Library (36th St. & Kino) later this year thanks to the collaborative efforts of Tucson Parks and Recreation (TPR), Tucson City Council Member Richard Fimbres & the Greater Southern Arizona Area Chapter (GSAAC) of the 9th & 10th Cavalry.

“We hope that this memorial project effort, and the history that will be presented, will start a dialogue about what these brave soldiers dealt with and endured in establishing and growing this country in the Southwest and West after the Civil War,” Jon Covington, secretary of the GSAAC, told us earlier this month. “It’s not an easy story to tell, but we're trying in a good way.”

Having broken ground on the memorial in October, the monument that is the memorial’s focal point is still being fabricated in Georgia, according to Covington, who added that he expects the monument to arrive in Tucson sometime in April.

“There are many voices, efforts and initiatives today, as in previous decades, seeking to develop a more fair system of justice that everyone can agree on, not only for Blacks, but for everyone living in Tucson and Pima County,” Covington said. “Unfortunately, this new century continues to present some of the ‘age-old’ injustices we've lived with since the end of slavery. It’s a big challenge, but we must continue our efforts.”

#BHM
#BuffaloSoldiers
#ThisIsTucson

(From left: Jerry Neely of TPR; GSAAC President Sam Freeman, Jr.; GSAAC Secretary Jon Covington; and GSAAC Memorial Co-Chair Lee Easter, Jr.)

📸 by Colin Wolff

Justice in Pima County: Week 7 #FromLaura This we

Justice in Pima County: Week 7
#FromLaura

This week truly proved the old adage that taking a day off in the legal system in honor of a holiday will only serve up an avalanche packed into the remaining 4 days.

This week was very much victim-centric. We had meetings w/ experts from across S. Arizona who serve survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence & abuse in the home. In the strife of Covid, unemployment & evictions, we're taking every step we can to remain a strong partner to those serving our most vulnerable.

I held a meeting w/ State Sen. Victoria Steele & victims’ rights advocate Kat Stratford on the wealth of services available to survivors of sexual assault who receive immediate law enforcement intervention as opposed to the isolating journey a survivor must traverse if their report comes later in time. There's a clear need to lift up the services of the S. Arizona Center Against Sexual Assault & other agencies where you can walk in the door and receive immediate help. That includes the incredible people who work w/in our own Victim Services division, who filmed a PSA this week in service to those survivors of SA who await answers from their medical forensic exams.

In other news:

• I had my 1st meeting w/ Tucson PD’s Mental Health Support Team (MHST) & Dr. Margie Balfour, medical director of the Crisis Response Center. They were made to wait their turn patiently because, as you might know, my brother Sgt. Jason Winsky founded the MHST many yrs ago for TPD. This team has been co-responding to 911 calls w/ medical, behavioral & social-work professionals since 2013. There's a clear need to highlight when the Crisis Response Line (520-622-6000) or when 911 should be called instead.

· On a high note, I spent the past 2 days reviewing the new law students beating down our door for a law clerk position, new attorneys eager to learn here & attorneys out in the community looking to join our effort. The reform we are undertaking here at PCAO is not easy. To see these talented, quality, sincere professionals knocking on the door and asking to sign up is a fantastic affirmation of the changes we’re making.

#ToBeContinued,
Laura

📸 by Colin Wolff

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