Public Safety Requires Prosecutorial Management That Delivers Results
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
More arrests without charges filed while unresolved cases pile up in the Pierce County Prosecutor's Office
The core failure is management: Pierce County now has more arrests ending without charges being filed, fewer felony cases being filed, and more unresolved cases piling up, leaving crime victims, law enforcement, taxpayers, and the public with a justice system that is slower, costlier, and less accountable.
Effective management of the Prosecutor’s Office is essential to public safety, victim protection, and responsible government. The Prosecutor must be able to organize people, resources, data, and strategy around measurable outcomes—not simply promise to stand up for crime victims while performance moves in the wrong direction.
Charging Decisions Are Moving in the Wrong Direction
A troubling performance indicator of failing management is the rate at which the Prosecutor’s Office declines to file charges after someone has been booked into jail by police. The most recent publicly available Pierce County data show that the Office declines to file charges in more than 1 out of 7 bookings.
In 2019, the Prosecutor declined to file charges on 8% of jail bookings. By 2024, that rate had risen to 15.3%, nearly double the pre-Covid rate. While the sharp increase in 2020 might be explained by the Covid emergency, that period ended years ago, and the elevated decline rate has not only failed to return to prior levels, but it continues to get worse.
Source: Pierce County Criminal Justice Data, online.
A higher decline rate means more arrests that do not result in charges, more unanswered questions for victims and law enforcement, and more strain on public confidence. Communities and crime victims are not protected by a system that books people into jail only to later decline prosecution at a sharply higher rate.
Case Backlogs Are Undermining Accountability
Our campaign has shown that current management of the Prosecutor’s Office is failing another basic performance test: fewer felony cases are being filed than just a few years ago, yet more cases remain unresolved and take longer to resolve.
As delays mount, evidence weakens, crime victims and defendants wait longer for resolution, and taxpayers absorb higher costs for jail housing, medical care, and legal representation.
· Comparing the last non-pandemic year, 2019, with 2025, new felony case filings fell from 4,934 to 3,727, a decline of nearly 25%.
· During that same period, the average number of pending cases rose from 1,589 to 1,835, an increase of more than 17%.
· If pending cases had declined at the same rate as filings, Pierce County would have approximately 600 fewer pending felony cases today.
That widening gap points to a justice system under strain: fewer new cases entering the system, more unresolved cases accumulating, longer waits for accountability, and declining public confidence.
Our opponent dismisses these results saying they “do not reflect the realities of the job.” These results have not been meaningfully disputed and they deserve explanation. These numbers measure whether the Prosecutor’s Office is resolving serious criminal cases efficiently, protecting victims, and using public resources effectively. The data show that in recent years the Prosecutor’s Office has declined to file more cases where police have made an arrest and that it is filing fewer cases. At the same time, it is falling behind in resolving felony cases.
Good management is the cornerstone of any successful public office. The Prosecutor should gather data, analyze trends, identify bottlenecks, and use feedback from law enforcement, victims, staff, courts, and the community to guide decisions. Performance data should not be treated as an afterthought; it should drive strategy, accountability, and course correction. The Prosecutor must be able to manage staff, resources, data, and strategy toward achieving justice and the protection of the public.
Public safety leadership must be judged by measurable outcomes, not stated intentions. The current record—more arrests ending without charges, fewer felony cases being filed, and more unresolved cases accumulating—requires correction, and disciplined management. Crime victims, law enforcement, taxpayers, defendants, and the public need a Prosecutor’s Office that measures performance honestly and manages toward results. Achieving justice and the protection of crime victims and the public require nothing less. Pierce County deserves nothing less.
