California’s crime-battered Bay Area wants to boot its second woke district attorney in the span of just over a year.
A coalition of residents filed a notice of intent this week to recall controversial Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price — arguing that the fate of her jurisdiction hangs in the balance.
The campaign follows the expulsion of San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin over claims of prosecutorial leniency and spiraling disorder in June last year.
A group called Save Alameda County For Everyone (SAFE) is helming the push to remove Price, arguing that crime and lawlessness have flourished during her seven-month tenure.
“We know that recalling a public official is a long and arduous process necessitating a large and sustained grassroots effort, however, we are resolved to remove Price from office, because our safety and that of our families is at stake,” the organization stated on its website.
Like Boudin, Price was elected after pledging to remake Alameda County’s prosecutorial conventions and to undo historical “inequity” in the criminal justice system.
But critics — including beleaguered business owners, residents and victims’ families — argue Price has elevated the rights of criminals over their marks and blurred the lines between offender and target.
“We are unified in our belief that recalling Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price is not only necessary, but critical to keeping our community safe and restoring public safety in our neighborhoods,” SAFE said in a statement.
The recall push comes after Price’s appearance at a rancorous community meeting last month where residents of all stripes highlighted mushrooming disorder from the college town of Berkeley to Oakland’s urban neighborhoods.
Speakers in the famously liberal area said they feel like sitting ducks — and that crimes from car thefts and home invasions to carjackings and armed robberies are now commonplace in formerly stable areas.
Thanks to nonstop vehicle break-ins, motorists brave enough to park in Oakland’s downtown area often leave all their car windows rolled down to signal the absence of any valuables — and to avoid returning to a pile of broken glass.
In a leaked internal memo obtained by the Berkeley Scanner, Price told staffers to avoid criminal enhancements — which lengthen jail stints — to “bring balance back to sentencing and reduce recidivism.”
She has also counseled her staff to avoid stiff charges for serious felonies.
SAFE accused her administration of “willfully fomenting a culture of violence” on Alameda County’s streets.
But Price and her supporters have pushed back at their detractors, accusing them of refusing to acknowledge historic disparities in the criminal justice process.
In a statement last month, Price said those pushing for her ouster are driven by right-wing special interests and are attempting a “coup” using the “January 6th playbook.”
Price was elected last November with 53 percent of the vote.
“DA Price is the People’s DA,” her camp said. “She remains undeterred by this undemocratic effort and will continue to focus on enacting the reforms county voters mandated.”
But SAFE has maintained that crime victims come from all corners of the community — and former staffers have noted that the bulk of violent incidents in the county are committed against minorities.
In a Tuesday statement, SAFE highlighted six victims’ families who had accused Price of unjustified leniency in their cases.
To put Price’s recall on the ballot, recall proponents must gather at least 75,000 validated signatures.
