Does an intimate working relationship between the Arlington prosecutor’s office and the police department deliver better results for a community facing rising crime rates, or is it actually an impediment to justice being served?
The two candidates vying for commonwealth’s attorney in the June 20 Democratic primary took shots at one another on the topic during a May 9 debate sponsored by the Arlington County Civic Federation.
“To wear animosity towards the police department almost as a badge of honor makes no sense,” said Josh Katcher, who is seeking to knock off first-term prosecutor Parisa Dehghani-Tafti in the primary and clearly aimed that remark in her direction.
Dehghani-Tafti shot back that she has a “healthy” relationship with the police rank-and-file and its leadership, suggesting that Katcher (who long served in the prosecutor’s office) has had a “too cozy” relationship with them.
“You can’t play the oversight role you’re supposed to play if you’re that close to the police department,” she said. “We have a respectful, independent relationship.”
The back-and-forth gave some insight into the distinctions to be made in the race, although it also may have amounted to just more political blah-blah-blah in the minds of a populace increasingly concerned about what data show are increasing crime rates across Arlington and how to get them under control.
The incumbent prosecutor at several points in the forum blamed the police department for higher crime rates, citing a decline in criminal referrals to her office.
“The police are catching fewer people,” Dehghani-Tafti said. “The greatest deterrent to crime is the certainty of getting caught. We can’t prosecute cases that don’t come to us.”
Katcher suggested that response was disingenuous – why, he mused, would police take the time to round up offenders of certain crimes when it has been made clear that the prosecutor’s office wouldn’t move forward with them?
“Arlington is going to be a target, because we are affluent and we are near a jurisdictional line,” he said. “There are certain kinds of crimes we cannot afford to be a soft target on – drug dealing, carjacking and other types of violence that’s going to be brought into our county.”
Four years ago, Dehghani-Tafti surfed atop an enormous wave of left-wing-activist campaign cash from outside Arlington to win a narrow victory in the Democratic primary against two-term commonwealth’s attorney Theo Stamos. Republicans could not muster a candidate to run against her in the 2019 general election, and it appears likely the winner of the June 20 Democratic primary also will be unopposed in November.
Echoing 2019, the 2023 Democratic battle has emerged as something of a blood feud. Katcher had joined the prosecutor’s office under Stamos and was among those who opted to stay upon the arrival of Dehghani-Tafti, who ultimately promoted him. But he later left owing to the new prosecutor’s policies and the office’s inability during her tenure to retain lawyers on staff.
Dehghani-Tafti’s campaign, meanwhile, is attempting to paint Katcher as a disgruntled member of an old regime that proved itself out of touch with the sentiments of Democratic voters in 2019.
Few in the Arlington political sphere are willing to place bets on how things will turn out, in part because the showdown is just one of several high-impact races on the June 20 ballot that could bring out a major turnout in Arlington – and nobody can be sure whether a major turnout will benefit Dehghani-Tafti or Katcher.
Because the commonwealth’s attorney also serves the city of Falls Church, voters there also will be able to cast ballots in the race.
• • •
A link to the full debate can be found at civfed.org.
