Tight Budget Stamps Out Crime-Fighting

Pierce County Prosecutor John Ladenburg has a rubber stamp all ready for the day - Sept. 1 - he stops treating some felons as felons. It reads: “This felony case cannot be filed due to staff shortages in the prosecutor’s office.”

Ladenburg is making good on his often-stated threat.

In a July 27 letter to several local police agencies, Ladenburg said his office won’t file felony charges in many property crimes and minor drug offenses.

That means some cases will be bumped down to misdemeanors while others will be dismissed altogether, he said Friday.

A bicycle thief or a burglar who breaks into a garage will get little or no punishment, he said.

“We are extremely disappointed and frustrated to be forced to do this, but we have no choice,” he wrote in the letter.

Dropping a felony burglary charge down to fourth-degree theft means the difference between 45 days in jail and a suspended sentence with a fine, he said.

It also means repeat offenders won’t be treated as harshly because there will be no felony record of the prior conviction, he said.

But if the Pierce County Council gives him the money to hire 18 more lawyers, paralegals, investigators and legal assistants, Ladenburg said, he won’t cut back. He asked for the money in May and isn’t hopeful he’ll get it.

County Executive Doug Sutherland and County Councilman Dennis Flannigan said Ladenburg will get some help, but probably not by Sept. 1.

“I just can’t jump as quickly as John wants,” Flannigan said. “John has a real need. The courts have a real need. The jail has a real need. Real needs in criminal justice are a dime a dozen.”

And besides, Sutherland said, since 1990, Ladenburg’s office has increased from 143 to 184 employees.