Los Angeles Board of Supervisors Slashes DA’s Budget by $24 Million – Another Stab in the Back to Public Safety

Los Angeles County’s Board of Supervisors has once again shown where its loyalties lie – and it isn’t with the residents demanding safer streets.

On August 26, 2025, District Attorney Nathan Hochman issued a “State of the Office” memorandum acknowledging a staggering $24–25 million budget cut inflicted on his office for the upcoming fiscal year. The numbers aren’t just abstract accounting. They represent a dangerous new low in the County’s war on its own law enforcement infrastructure, an 8.5% slash that eliminated 155 planned vacancies across critical prosecutorial and investigative ranks. The effect is clear: another stab in the back to public safety in a county already battered by violent crime, retail theft, and eroded community trust in government.

The DA’s Office confirmed that the Board’s budget curtailment wiped out 64 deputy district attorney slots, 65 staff positions, and 26 Bureau of Investigation roles. These aren’t placeholders on a spreadsheet. Each represents a case that could be charged, a victim who could be represented, a subpoena that could be served, or a defendant who might otherwise slip through the cracks. Hochman, in his memo, emphasized he would not allow layoffs of current employees. But the caveat was unavoidable: do more with less. Behind the carefully chosen words lies a sobering reality, the County has effectively capped prosecutorial capacity at a time when backlogs remain in the thousands and felony case complexity continues to grow.

Ironically, Hochman’s communication also celebrated progress. The electronic case review backlog had dropped from nearly 9,700 to just over 6,100 cases since December 2024. Enforcement of Penal Code 1050 continuance rules had cut down late defense postponements by 95% in Central Operations preliminary courts. The office had just finished a hiring surge, onboarding 63 new deputy DAs, 72 support staff, 14 senior law clerks, 12 retired DDAs, and 12 investigators. But the Board’s $24 million axe undercuts those very gains. The reality is that the DA’s Office may never see the full impact of its hiring drive because the County eliminated the budgeted positions before they could be filled. In plain terms, the Supervisors gave with one hand and ripped away with the other.

The County framed the cut as part of “unprecedented financial challenges,” citing an 8.5% DA budget reduction as part of countywide belt-tightening. But it’s impossible to ignore the political undertones. This is the same Board that has long been accused of weaponizing fiscal policy against law enforcement entities it cannot control. District Attorney Hochman, a vocal critic of lax criminal justice policies, has clashed with County leaders over priorities ranging from charging standards to support for deputy sheriffs in the field. By stripping millions from his office, the Supervisors weaken his ability to deliver on promises to restore public confidence in prosecutions, and in doing so, tilt the balance toward chaos in the courts.

The numbers tell a chilling story. More than 6,100 pending cases remain in the backlog despite recent progress. Each delayed filing represents a victim waiting for justice, a witness whose memory fades, or an accused offender left in limbo. Twenty-six fewer investigators means subpoenas, witness interviews, and follow-ups that may never happen, crucial details that can make or break a felony case. Sixty-four fewer deputy prosecutors translates directly into heavier caseloads for those left standing. The inevitable result: rushed case prep, plea deals under pressure, or cases that collapse under strain.

For the residents of Los Angeles County, these aren’t just numbers. They’re the fractures in a public safety net already stretched thin by rising crime, gang violence, fentanyl deaths, and a justice system too often accused of playing politics over principle. The Board of Supervisors’ decision to gut the DA’s budget by $24 million is more than fiscal mismanagement, it is a betrayal of the County’s obligation to protect its citizens. At a time when every courtroom should be fully staffed and every backlog aggressively attacked, Los Angeles has instead chosen to kneecap its prosecutors. Hochman told his staff that “the state of our Office is strong, because of who you are.” But optimism will not fix a system systematically deprived of resources. The true state of the office – and of public safety in Los Angeles – will depend on whether voters hold their elected Supervisors accountable for undermining the very institution tasked with protecting them.

Public officials cannot claim to stand for public safety while refusing to fund it. Stripping $24 million from the District Attorney’s Office while parading slogans about safer communities is a betrayal of the very people the Board claims to serve. Deputy district attorneys are already overburdened, drowning under caseloads that make justice delayed a daily reality, and the conditions inside the office are now dangerously beginning to mirror the chronic understaffing and morale collapse long seen in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. What’s worse, Hochman, who was elected on a promise to restore accountability and strengthen the fight against crime, stood silent when the Board drove the knife in. Instead of fighting back publicly, he quietly circulated an internal memo to staff. How is that protecting the people? Silence is not leadership, and Los Angeles cannot afford a District Attorney unwilling to go to war for the resources his prosecutors need to safeguard the public.