Bureau of Investigation
The Bureau of Investigation is the law enforcement component of the District Attorney’s Office. The Bureau’s 132 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 2008, the Bureau of Investigation continued to be aggressive in efforts to support the prosecutorial mission.
During 2008, Bureau investigators handled more than three thousand cases that required completing investigative service requests that resulted with the service of 307 search warrants, and the arrests of 184 defendants. District Attorney Investigators were also involved in:
- 19 gang injunction orders
- 224 wire taps
- 693 surveillance operations
- 37 witness protection operations
The Bureau’s Public Assistance Fraud Division increased the number of cases it handled from the year before. During 2008, Bureau investigators handled:
- 20,474 cases
- conducted 68,990 interviews
- responded to 7,414 Child Protective Services records checks
- conducted 1973 compliance visits
The Bureau’s Child Abduction Unit (CAU) conducted 215 investigations and was successful in the recovery of 93 abducted children from around the country. In addition, CAU was involved in 31 cases involving children being abducted from, or taken to other countries, including Russia, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Marianas Islands, Venezuela, Germany, and Peru.
In 2008, Bureau investigators were involved in the investigation 29 officer-involved shootings.
Special Project: The Bureau of Investigation hosted the 2008 California District Attorney Investigator’s Association (CDAIA) annual training conference. Elected District Attorneys and District Attorney Investigators from around the state participated in this very successful three day conference.
AWARDS
Awards to the Bureau and its DAIs during the year included:
- DAI Chris Sjodin, San Diego Police Officers Association “Officer of the Year”
- DAI Dan Schmitt, Crime Stoppers Award
- DAI Jose Cuervo, POST Investigative Award
- DAI Tom Morgans, Blue Knights Award, San Diego Crime Commission
- DAI Darrell Brown, Officer of the Year Award, El Cajon Elks Club
The Bureau of Investigation as a whole received the “Naval Criminal Investigative Service Award” for excellence in partnership and cooperation in serving the law enforcement community.
