May 01 2008
Gilchrist Says DA’s Office Overloaded
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Lately it seems crime is happening across Charlotte and residents are demanding answers. So WCNC went to Mecklenburg County’s district attorney, who says people in Charlotte aren’t getting justice.
Mecklenburg County’s DA is blunt, seems honest, and is angry because he says his assistant DA’s caseloads are insane.
“The troubling part is that those are the caseloads of some of the assistant DA’s that are carrying serious felony caseloads,” District Attorney Peter Gilchrist said.
He’s almost as angry as the people of Charlotte seem to be. Residents have been marching and meeting all across town, trying to figure out what to do about the recent rash of crime.
The solutions have been presented. The city and/or county needs to build more jails and the DA’s office needs about another 30 prosecutors to put Charlotte in sync with other cities of comparable size. This has been suggested before, but both the city council, the county commission, and the mayor have turned a blind eye to this over the past few years. It’s not until an angry mob of residents storm city hall do they suddenly acknowledge they have to do something.
Some of these council members and commissioners are up for reelection this year. I think Mecklenburg residents need to look long and hard as to whether or not these people should be installed for another term considering how many of them have skirted this issue.
Some of the people doing the loudest complaining are the ones who live in districts that return the worst representatives to the council, such as Parks Helms, Jennifer Roberts and Anthony Foxx. I’m curious as to whether the victims of the Dilworth crime wave will even make the connection between their past votes and the ineptitude of government preventing it from getting this bad.
I wouldn’t hold my breath.
I’m a cop, and I’m not afraid to tell you that the Mecklenburg County court system is broken, and people don’t seem to care about fixing it until they become the victim.
The Mecklenburg County Jail is not-so-affectionately known as the “revolving door.” I will arrest someone on Monday and see them again, committing the same crime on Wednesday. The magistrates throw out serious charges, and the judges let people walk all day long. The DA’s office is so underfunded that gift-wrapped cases get rejected simply because no one can prosecute them. Less than 5% of cases brought before the DA’s office will actually see a court room.
The courts of Mecklenburg County are a joke to every criminal that comes here. We are living in a very literal “gangsters’ paradise.”