Editor’s note: Below is the full text of a letter sent in August by Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price to East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell, who on Wednesday endorsed an effort to recall Price on the November 5 general election ballot. The letter was shared with the Bay Area News Group by Protect The Win, a campaign to support Price and defeat the recall effort.
August 7, 2024
Congressman Eric Swalwell
Dear Hon. Representative Swalwell:
I hope this message finds you well. I write to personally invite you to meet with me and my executive leadership team at your earliest convenience. I fear significant misunderstanding has hampered our relationship as allied representatives of a shared community. I think a personal communication to introduce ourselves will reassure you that we are diligently working to serve the people who live, work and play in Alameda County.
As a former Alameda County prosecutor, I believe that you share our concern for the safety of Alameda County and the need to build confidence in the rule of law. I also hope based on your past association with our office that you have a shared understanding of the challenges we face and our commitment to our community.
When the voters of Alameda County elected me to serve as District Attorney beginning in 2023, the County was already facing an alarming pandemic-driven rise in violent crime. The root causes for the rise in violence are complex and include the flooding of our community with guns during the COVID shutdown; dual housing and mental health crises; and Oakland’s status as a hub within the international billion-dollar slave trade of human beings otherwise known as human trafficking.
The District Attorney’s Office also faced a crisis in its interactions with the broader community. The backlog in providing Alameda County victims of crime with compensation and services had become staggering – with too many victims facing delays of roughly a year before receiving aid. Many diverse communities felt disrespected by the Office’s perceived biases and failure to hold government actors accountable to the people. Among the people, there was a persistent lack of trust in the administration of justice in the county.
I came into an office in shambles. My successes have been significant.
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With the help of my talented executive team, we have hired committed, diverse talent with unprecedented speed; expanded timely and culturally-appropriate services to victims of crime; expanded our collaborative courts to address root causes of harm; including mental health crises and built systems to hold government actors – including my own attorneys – accountable to the public. Above all else, I have protected the community. I have proven that I hold serious offenders to task. I am committed to ensuring no one is above the law and that the law is administered fairly.
Recent comments on your personal social media indicate that you may be unaware of or misinformed about the progress of my administration. To aid you, I offer the following resources.
1. 2023 Annual Report – The Report documents our work to rebuild functionality of the office with an eye toward prosecution, accountability, transparency and equity.
2. Newsroom – We meet serious crimes with serious consequences, My Newsroom highlights a weekly sampling of the most serious crimes prosecuted by my administration. For example, just last week, I announced the charging of a man with attempted murder of an Alameda County Deputy Sheriff. This defendant was charged with multiple felonies for allegedly trying to run over an Alameda County deputy sheriff, including enhancements for great bodily injury and being out on bail when the alleged crime was committed.
To reassure you that the office “is in good hands” I invite you to meet with myself and my Executive Team. We meet weekly on Fridays 1-3 pm in the District Attorney’s Office’s Oakland Oakport branch. In the interest of furthering our shared mission of advancing justice for all of Alameda County’s residents, I encourage you to accept our invitation. We value the open exchange of ideas and strategies for effectuating public safety and I believe our interests are better served through collaboration than through public sparring.
Please feel free to reach out to me directly at pamela.price@acgov.org or have your staff contact our DAO Chief of Staff, LaTonia Peoples-Stokes to schedule a mutually convenient date and time.
Meanwhile, my administration will continue to approach the administration of justice in Alameda County with the utmost seriousness and with determination to achieve concrete and lasting results in the interest of building public safety and trust in the rule of law.
Sincerely,
Pamela Price, Alameda County District Attorney
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