To: Martin L. Cousineau, Finance Committee Chairperson
From: David Leyton, Prosecutor
title
RE: Approval of a request to create, post, & fill five (5) new Paralegal positions and three (3) new Assistant Prosecutor positions; THIS IS A GENERAL FUND INCREASE REQUEST FOR FYE 2026-2027 BUDGET OF $1,173,459.00
recommendation
BOARD ACTION REQUESTED:
The Prosecutor's Office requests approval to create, establish, post, fund, and fill five (5) new paralegal positions and three (3) new Assistant Prosecutor positions.
BACKGROUND:
The prosecution of cases has changed dramatically in recent years. All of our criminal cases, down to even small misdemeanor cases, are accompanied by multiple hours of body worn cameras per officer, multiple angles and multiple hours of cruiser cameras, in addition to the mandate that all interviews be audio and video recorded where applicable, and the photographs we have always expected to see on criminal cases. In addition to those items, we are now contending with cell phone extractions and triangulations, ring cameras on every residence, surveillance videos from multiple businesses, and social media account downloads. Not only do these items take a monumental amount of storage that we must pay for, but the hours needed for our office staff to review, redact, and prepare these items for trial is something that is both unprecedented and set to increase exponentially in this digital age. One hour of video can take at least triple the time to process by the time we review it, redact it, render it, and make it suitable for trial presentation. It is a routine occurrence that a cell phone extraction or a Facebook download that we receive is tens of thousands of pages of printed data and also contain hours of photos and videos. We review the technology of inmates including their calls, video visits, and emails as they also contain valuable evidence. Trial presentations have also become digital. We are presenting cases digitally, storing ...
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