The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Contra Costa, California District Attorney Robert Kochly announced that misdemeanors (such as thefts, assaults, burglaries) and possession of small amounts of meth, cocaine or heroin, will not be prosecuted because of budget cuts.
Okay, I don't have a problem with that. He's obviously got to do some real triage. His office is bleeding red ink. But do you announce it to the world? Does he assume criminals don't read the paper? I mean, if I wanted to do some shopping without paying, I'd be heading over to CoCo right now. County Supervisor John Gioa was quoted in the Chron as saying he didn't "think it was a good idea ... to inform the public ... what cases they're not going to prosecute." That's gotta be the understatement of the year.
Kochly actually told police not to even bother submitting the cases.
