The City Attorney’s Office has received a $631,000 Office of Traffic Safety grant to enhance prosecutions of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
“Saving lives through the prosecution of impaired driving is my top priority this holiday season,” said City Attorney Carmen Trutanich. “This grant will bring needed resources and sends a strong message that our Office remains committed to aggressively pursuing all legal actions that keep people impaired by drugs or alcohol off of the road.”
The three full-time prosecutors funded by the one-year grant, under the concept of “vertical prosecution,” will file driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs cases through arraignment, judgment, sentencing and post-probation. In addition, the grant provides for an oral fluid collection pilot program to determine the presence of drugs by officers in the field. Prosecutors assigned to the Impaired Driving Vertical Prosecution Program include Deputy City Attorneys Rosemary Chavez, Michelle DeCasas, and Michael Schwartz, who bring more than 40 years of combined prosecutorial experience to this effort.
Funding for this program is from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.