Emphasis on announces. I’ve read this piece three times and can’t convince myself that I’m not missing something obvious that makes it all perfectly rational. Surely if a D.A. were forced to turn his district into a free-fire zone for certain crimes, he wouldn’t broadcast to the public what those crimes are.

Right?

The decision not to go after any perpetrators of certain offenses, Grove said, amounts to “holding up a sign and advertising to the criminal element to come to Contra Costa County, because we’re no longer going to prosecute you.”

Don’t even bother submitting the cases, Kochly said Monday in a memo to the Contra Costa County Police Chiefs Association. “If they are submitted, they will be screened out by category by support staff and returned to your department without review by a deputy district attorney,” he wrote…

Supervisor John Gioia, who represents Richmond, said the list of crimes that Kochly says he won’t prosecute is far longer now than what he told the board during its budget deliberations.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for the chief prosecutor in the county to inform the public at large what cases they’re not going to prosecute,” Gioia said…

Kochly said prosecutors will still consider charging suspects with certain misdemeanors, including domestic violence, driving under the influence, firearms offenses, vehicular manslaughter, sex crimes and assault with a deadly weapon.

Also among the offenses he won’t prosecute, according to the following clip: Grand theft and hit and run. Seriously, what am I missing here? Click the image to watch.