City Attorney Reviews Record of His Office

It is often said that truth is the first casualty of political campaigns. This year, truth didn’t even have a chance.

Case in point: The issue of homelessness and your recent article on the Santa Monica City Council election, “Myers Gone, but Not the Homeless He Championed” (Oct. 18).

Since I was named Santa Monica acting city attorney, I have prosecuted 75% of all homeless people jailed by the police. This figure is up from the already high number prosecuted by Bob Myers. On average, he prosecuted nearly 70% of all homeless persons arrested.

You might think that candidates for local office bent on “changing” the city attorney’s office or being “tough on crime” would be interested in such information. Guess again. Not one has even bothered to ask about it. Apparently, it is easier to claim that the city attorney’s office is “soft on crime” or the homeless criminal than it is to find out the truth.

With regard to other homeless matters, I have stated that I will not prosecute anyone under the city’s Encampment Ordinance. Why? Not because I am Bob Myers’ clone, but because similar laws are under court attack in other cities and decisions there will help decide the fate of this law.

What about other laws? I have publicly and repeatedly stated that I will review arrests of homeless persons on a case-by-case basis. This means that I will treat most homeless arrests little differently than any other arrest. While I will not make poverty a crime, our 75% prosecution record speaks for itself as to what my office will do when homeless persons commit real crimes.

I am proud of my office’s record during my brief tenure as acting city attorney. Issues of homelessness along with everything else we do are being treated with competence, an even hand and without fanfare. The city attorney’s office continues to stand tall for the consumer, the tenant, the neighbor, and yes, the crime victim.

Sadly, in our distorted election climate, the truth about such simple good works makes for bad campaign slogans, and for even worse headlines.

JOSEPH LAWRENCE

Santa Monica

Lawrence is acting city attorney of Santa Monica