DA Hoovler Releases
His Office’s 2020 Annual Report

Describing Highlights of Office Operations in 2020

Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced on Thursday, January 7, 2021, that his Office has released its 2020 Annual Report. The report describes details of the Office’s operations last year. A few highlights of the report include:

• Restructuring the District Attorney’s Office. As a result of legislative changes in the criminal justice system that became effective in 2020, the Office changed its structure from several specialized units to three general bureaus and created the Early Case Assessment Bureau. That restructuring enables the Office to meet the increased workload brought on by those legislative changes.
• Technology Upgrades. The Office invested in laptop computers, cellular telephones for all legal staff, and other technology upgrades, designed to enable staff to work more efficiently in the office, and to work remotely.
• Newburgh Non-Fatal Shootings Initiative. This three-year State-funded initiative was designed to bring additional investigative resources to bear on City of Newburgh shooting cases where victims refused to cooperate, using creative ways to develop other evidence in those cases. As a result of the initiative, the rate of solution of non-fatal shooting cases jumped from 14% before the initiative, to 40% during the initiative. Unfortunately, State funding has been discontinued, but the District Attorney’s Office, the City of Newburgh Police Department, and other local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies have joined to continue using the program’s strategies under a new name, the Multi-Agency Strategic Response team (MAST).
“2020 was a challenging year for everyone,” said District Attorney Hoovler, “and the District Attorney’s Office was no exception. We began to feel the impact of misguided legislative changes that threatened to upend our criminal justice system. In addition, my Office, like the rest of the world, was forced to react to the trials of the COVID-19 pandemic. My staff weathered those storms extremely well, working every day, in person or remotely, to keep the Office in operation. As a result, we were able to keep moving forward in our duty to protect the public from crime. We look forward, optimistically, to 2021.”