Justice For All... your mileage may vary

[xoxoxoBruce]

The police arresting you is an inconvenience, the DA prosecuting you is big trouble.
The DA decides which people get prosecuted and which don't. There is never enough
manpower or money so the DA must decide based on personal prejudices, campaign
promises, and maximum bang for the buck. That's why they offer plea deals.
This chart from Chicago shows the difference with a change of DA.

[Clodfobble]

The DA doesn't have any influence on arresting policies, though, right? I doubt, for example, that incidences of retail theft suddenly plummeted right in 2017 because the criminals just decided nothing was worth stealing anymore... Obviously the 2017-and-onward DA still prosecuted a lot fewer thieves than were arrested, but it looks like there was a change in police policy at that time as well. But maybe that was just in response to a stated prosecution policy--if the guy in the courtroom openly says "we're not going to prosecute as many petty theft cases," then maybe the cops aren't going to be motivated to fill out the paperwork for an arrest, either.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Right, the DA doesn't control the arrests but I suspect the top cops, who are always claiming manpower/money shortages, may direct the department efforts toward things where they're more likely to get a conviction. Also shady lawyers know what's going on and likely pass that information to the streets.

That's a guess on my part but I think a good one.