The District Attorney of Alameda County, Pamela Price, is facing a recall vote this November over accusations that crime is out of control in her jurisdiction. Alameda County encompasses Oakland, and Price faces the recall along with Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao. If successful, it would be the first time either position has been recalled in the county’s over 170-year history and could determine the future of crime policy in the Bay Area, Courthouse News reports. Price is the first Black woman to serve as Alameda County’s top prosecutor. The former civil rights lawyer of over 30 years beat the previous district attorney’s expected successor by running her campaign on a 10-point platform of increased police accountability, rehabilitation and reducing mass incarceration. She took about 53% of the vote. Since then, Price has pursued lighter sentences for defendants, opposed enhancement charges to increase jail times and refused to use life without parole as a sentencing tool, among other policies.
Total crime in Oakland has dropped 33% this year, according to the Oakland Police Department, and some of Price’s supporters say they believe the recall, which began less than six months after she took office, is politically motivated. “I think she deserves more than two years to show what she can do,” said 77-year-old Oakland resident Shirley Golub. However, her critics have argued that this is not the whole picture. “They mean reported crime is down 33%,” said Oakland resident Brian Bonner, a supporter of the recall. “The reality is Oakland is the worst it has ever been.” Representative Eric Swalwell, a Dublin Democrat, has also voiced his support for a recall. "Pamela Price has failed the people of the East Bay, and we are uniting to seek her recall from office," he said earlier this month. "Violent robberies and burglaries and home invasion robberies continue to be on the rise."