DALLAS COUNTY, Texas — Voters gave Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot four more years.
Creuzot defeated Republican Faith Johnson last week in the midterm elections to win a second term. In an interview before the Nov. 8 election, Creuzot told Inside Texas Politics he would reconsider his controversial theft policy.
This theft policy is the one where his office does not prosecute people for stealing between $100 and $750 worth of food, diapers or formula if it wasn’t for personal gain. His challenger Faith Johnson argued the policy has been abused for any personal item in that value range. Creuzot didn’t want to reconsider changing the policy before the election.
This week, Creuzot told Inside Texas Politics rescinding the policy was still something he would consider, he said, “Yes, it is … yeah, I mean, we really haven’t had any cases. It’s kind of a policy that has created more controversy than has impacted any particular individual.”
Creuzot also talked about his top priorities for the DA’s office for the next four years. He wants to continue to combat violent crime by using Dallas County’s active gang unit. Creuzot said, “I don’t know that people understand we’re talking transnational gangs. We’re talking extreme violence and we have to get those cases to trial.”
Another one of the DA’s priorities is for his office to be more efficient. He’s asking the county to give the department paralegals – which they’ve never had. That would help process cases and get them to court faster. He’s also requesting more space, and for the building to be built out so that he can spread out the lawyers and have a place for seventeen paralegals.
As part of the build-out, the DA’s office is asking county commissioners to move the boxes of case files on the 10th floor of the Crowley building and take them somewhere else. He’s been told the boxes have caused problems with the floors. He said, “The weight of all those boxes, I am told, has caused minor to moderate structural problems with the floors.”
Creuzot said he’s making some progress and hopes to be fully funded in the next budget.