Alameda County’s New DA Says ‘People Are a Little Tired of Nothing Happening’

Alameda County’s next district attorney, Superior Court Judge Ursula Jones Dickson, said she will prioritize supporting crime victims and charging a backlog of cases, drawing optimism from prosecutors and victims advocates. Still, the office will present significant challenges after months of controversy.

Jones Dickson, who was a deputy district attorney in Alameda County for nearly a decade, began to lay out her approach to leading the office after being voted in by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday afternoon.

“What the people in the courtroom will tell you is that I lift up the community at all times,” Jones Dickson said during the meeting. “The job at the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, is to do what’s right for the community, protect the public … and lift up the victims.”

Jones Dickson is scheduled to be sworn in next week, three months after the recall of Pamela Price. Community members, some of whom were frustrated with the former district attorney’s progressive policies, identified rising crime rates and disorganization within the office as major pain points that Jones Dickson will need to address during her first few months on the job.

There’s a lot of reparative work that needs to start immediately, Jones Dickson told KQED. Some prosecutors will need to be trained more vigorously, she said, adding that the office needs to be reorganized so that attorneys can begin charging the backlog of cases in Alameda County. Jones Dickson said she’s working to secure a strong team of prosecutors and advisers and plans on hiring Annie Esposito, a prosecutor in Contra Costa County who was also a finalist for the top job in Alameda County, as her chief assistant.

Esposito has not confirmed whether she’ll accept the role.

“Ursula Dickson is the best choice,” Esposito said. “I’m thrilled for the county and for the office.”

Jones Dickson said during a Board of Supervisors’ meeting last week that she’s listening to the residents who are pushing for alternatives to mass incarceration, a key part of Price’s progressive platform. Representatives with the Care First, Jails Last coalition attended the meeting on Tuesday and urged supervisors to pick a candidate who would support rehabilitation for people suffering from substance addiction or mental illness.

Pamela Drake, an organizer with the progressive Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, said she’s skeptical that Jones Dickson will uphold the restorative justice initiatives that advocates pushed for while Price was in office. Jones Dickson will be a polarizing figure for community activists seeking criminal justice reform, and her appointment could further divide Alameda County, Drake added.

“Prosecutors have generally seen it as their job to put as many usually young Black and Brown people away for as long as possible and to rarely challenge the police,” Drake said. “It has destroyed families and neighborhoods.”

Jones Dickson said she is not opposed to diverting people away from the criminal justice system when possible but added that her priority is making sure that the district attorney’s office addresses crime and supports victims and their families.

“I think people are a little tired of nothing happening, and that’s going to be a bit of a push on this DA’s office,” Jones Dickson told KQED. “We need to do things a little differently than we did before.”

Jason Quinn, president of the Alameda County Prosecutors’ Association, said prosecutors are excited to work with Jones Dickson, but a lot of work will need to be done to rebuild trust.

Many cases in the district attorney’s office have not been assigned or charged, Quinn said, adding that residents and prosecutors alike are frustrated with the disorganization and unnecessary delays. He said they need a district attorney who will improve workflow and help prosecutors do their job efficiently.

“We’re looking forward to having a leader that’s going to get us focused and back on track doing preliminary sort of prosecutions,” Quinn said. “That’s when you get to focus on the diversionary programs to help people who have issues that don’t need to go through jails … but you can’t get to that until you take care of the business that’s really hurting a lot of people.”

Jones Dickson received recommendations from law enforcement unions across the county as well as the organization Save Alameda For Everyone, which led the recall campaign against Price.

She said she’s eager to start as soon as possible and that she won’t be swayed by politics. Jones Dickson’s first commitment is to the people of Alameda County, she said.

“I love being a judge. I love the work that I do daily with individuals,” Jones Dickson said. “But I know I can do more work for the community this way, so I look forward to that.”

Jones Dickson will serve as district attorney until the next general election in 2026 and plans to run again. Whoever is elected in two years will finish the rest of Price’s term, which goes through 2028.

KQED’s Alex Hall contributed to this report.