Bureau of Investigation
The Bureau of Investigation is the law enforcement component of the District Attorney’s Office. The Bureau’s 127 District Attorney Investigators (DAIs), 45 Public Assistance Fraud Investigators (PAFIs), and 13 process servers are assigned to eight divisions in the DA’s Office. Under the direction of Chief Paula Robinson and Assistant Chief Carlos Gonzalez in 2009, the Bureau of Investigation continued to be aggressive in efforts to support the prosecutorial mission.
During 2009, Bureau investigators handled more than three thousand cases that required completing investigative service requests that resulted with the service of 416 search warrants, and the arrests of 191 defendants. District Attorney Investigators were also involved in:
- 19 gang injunction orders
- 42 wire taps
- 575 surveillance operations
- 45 witness protection operations
The Bureau’s Public Assistance Fraud Division increased the number of cases it handled from the year before. During 2009, Bureau investigators handled:
- 27,435 cases
- conducted 106,130 interviews
- responded to 6,410 Child Protective Services records checks
- conducted 3579 compliance visits
The Bureau’s Child Abduction Unit (CAU) conducted 211 investigations and was successful in the recovery of 132 abducted children from around the country. In addition, CAU was involved in 33 cases involving children being abducted from, or taken to other countries, including Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, Germany, Taipei, and the Territory of Guam.
In 2009, Bureau investigators were involved in the investigation of 14 officer-involved shootings.
AWARDS
Awards to the Bureau and its DAIs during the year included:
- DAI Cathy Garcia, San Diego Police Officers Association “Officer of the Year”
- DAI Billy Cahill, Crime Stoppers Award
- DAI Joe Cargel, Blue Knights Award, San Diego Crime Commission
- PAI Jim Kneebone, Officer of the Year Award, El Cajon Elks Club
- DAI Gary Helson, San Diego Padres Officer of Year
- DAI Jeff Miller, Scottish Rite Officer of Year
- DAI Mike Porretta, Deputy District Attorney’s Association Investigator of Year
