Jones Dickson Takes Office as Alameda County DA, Vows to Prioritize Victims

Alameda County residents gathered at the Board of Supervisors building on Tuesday to celebrate the swearing-in of new District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson, officially marking the end of a monthslong saga that began with the recall of progressive prosecutor Pamela Price.

During her campaign for the position, Jones Dickson emphasized her commitment to uplifting victims and increasing accountability and efficiency in the district attorney’s office. A former Superior Court judge and Alameda County deputy district attorney, Jones Dickson, said she plans on using her extensive prosecutorial experience to reshape the office so that it can better address the needs of the county moving forward.

“We’ll do the work of a district attorney,” Jones Dickson said during a press conference on Tuesday. “We’ll hopefully facilitate other good things in the community, but we have to do what the community is asking us to do first, so that’s really it for me.”

Many community members expressed frustration with Price for what they believed was a lackluster response to crime in cities such as Oakland and Alameda. Jones Dickson said improving public safety will be her top priority.

Her immediate goals are to retrain attorneys in the office — many with limited prosecutorial experience — and eliminate procedural directives established by Price that require prosecutors to get approval before filing certain charges, allowing the office to address its backlog more quickly.

“The goal is to make sure we have lawyers who can do the work and do it well and can serve the community that I love and live in,” she said during the press conference.

Jones Dickson said she also plans to rebuild the relationship between her office and county residents. She said she wants community members to feel comfortable coming to her with their concerns. It will be a “victim-centered process,” she said.

“It’s our job to make sure they are heard,” Jones Dickson added. “The expectation is that somebody’s hearing you, they’re listening to you, and they’re making sure that your needs are being met as best as we can.”

During the appointment process, some community organizers worried that the new district attorney would undo criminal justice reforms achieved under Price. Jones Dickson said she’s not opposed to finding alternatives to incarceration, such as diversion programs for people suffering from addiction or mental illness, but that her priority will be securing justice for victims.

“The DA’s job is to make sure — as the top law enforcement officer in the county — that we are tending to the public safety of the community in addition to keeping victims at the center of that process,” she said. “That’s the work of the DA.”

Jones Dickson will serve until the next general election in 2026, and she has plans to run then as well.

KQED’s Alex Hall contributed to this report.