Crime is down, but anxiety is up among Wisconsin's prosecutors, says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. In a state budget crunch, an unspecified number of assistant district attorneys face layoffs, which will hurt offices already straining to keep up with caseloads. Sheboygan County District Attorney Joe DeCecco announced yesterday that his office no longer will prosecute several types of misdemeanors, about 1,200 a year, if his office loses one of his six full-time assistants.
Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel said something would have to give if he loses one of his 15 full-time assistants. His county has grown by 100,000 since 1990 and complicated crimes such as identity theft and Internet sex crimes have become a big problem, but he has three fewer prosecutors than in 1990. "We're trying to get public support for simply not cutting us any further," he said. "We understand it's a tough budget year. But none of these prosecutors is getting fat at the public trough."
