Elk Grove pilot program with DA aims to reduce ‘quality-of-life’ crimes. Here’s how

A Sacramento County prosecutor would work side by side with Elk Grove police to tackle property, nuisance and other quality-of-life crimes in a proposed pilot partnership between the city, police and Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office.

Through the 3-year Community Prosecutor program introduced last week to Elk Grove City Council, the DA’s office will station a deputy district attorney in Elk Grove “specifically focused on quality of life concerns,” said Elk Grove police Lt. Dan Templeton — commonly misdemeanors that may not normally be prosecuted due to resources dedicated to more serious crimes.

“Sometimes misdemeanors don’t get the attention that we want,” Templeton told council members. “This program will help bridge that gap.”

The program, which would extend through June 2026, next must go before the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors. The item is slated for mid-July, said DA officials, and would join similar programs in Rancho Cordova and downtown Sacramento through that city’s Downtown Sacramento Partnership.

The $358,000-per-year program would be funded in its first year by Wilton Rancheria casino fees and in its final two years using Measure E tax revenue. It would focus on six designated quality-of-life issues: substance abuse and addiction; loitering and trespassing; theft, vandalism, chronic nuisance properties — those which draw repeated calls for service — and other public safety concerns including those connected to homelessness.

The prosecutor pilot comes amid Elk Grove residents’ rising concerns over property crimes, catalytic converter thefts, sideshows and retail theft — a “huge issue in Sacramento County,” District Attorney Thien Ho told council members, noting Sacramento County ranks 10th of California’s 58 counties in retail theft.

Those were among the concerns that sent Elk Grove voters to the polls in November to approve Measure E, the 1% city tax hike that steered more money to police response.

In Elk Grove, property crimes — including burglaries, larceny and vehicle thefts — make up the majority of crimes called in to police. Though Elk Grove police report property crimes dropped by 15% in 2022 from 2021, the latest year available, nearly 2,100 such crimes were reported to police last year.

“Hopefully, we’ll have a community prosecutor in the city of Elk Grove that will be quickly responding to these issues and identifying them and working hand-in-hand with law enforcement as a deterrence,” Ho said.

The message, Ho said: “Don’t come to Elk Grove to commit crime.”

County prosecutors charged more than 11,000 misdemeanor cases in 2022, Ho said, but “with the focus of a community prosecutor (in Elk Grove), these are additional resources tailored to your community….That prosecutor is focused on the cases that are happening in Elk Grove, not in Rancho Cordova, not in the city of Sacramento, not in South Sacramento, but in Elk Grove.”

The deputy prosecutor would handle cases from arrest to trial. A desk in Elk Grove will also mean quicker access to investigators. Elk Grove officers now drive to prosecutors in Sacramento to work on warrants.

“This DA would work in our office with our officers and have immediate access to talk with officers,” Templeton said. “They would be an instant resource for any investigations we’re on; our detectives to write arrest warrants and search warrants. They’re someone we can walk down the hall to.”

“To have someone here locally to work with our police, to acutely address these issues as they come up to cut through the red tape. That is so important,” Elk Grove Councilman Rod Brewer said.

The prosecutor will also work with police in the community, reaching out to neighborhoods, businesses and homeowners’ associations across the city, along with youth programs, another focus of city Measure E.

Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen, the former Elk Grove school board president, talked about the potential impact of partnerships between the city, DA and Elk Grove Unified School District in noting the pilot program’s focus on youth and restorative justice.

“These are quality of life issues, but it also reinforces the values and priorities that our residents have put forth and this will only enhance our public safety commitment to our community,” Singh-Allen said.