District Attorneys are touting a plan to help North Carolina become safer as the General Assembly prepares to begin its legislative session. The blueprint for a safer North Carolina is a collection of bullet points. Ben David wrote it and hopes it can lead to a more proactive approach when dealing with crime prevention, funding for the courts and recidivism. David is president of the state conference of District Attorneys and the DA in New Hanover and Pender Counties. He says these building blocks could help Manteo with one issue, and assist Asheville in another area.
"It’s sort of like ordering off of a menu. There might be a community that says we’re going to start here and do this. And another community that looks at another part and says ‘lets try this’. Doing something is better than doing nothing."
David says investing in crime prevention is far more efficient than spending millions of dollars to incarcerate criminals. District Attorneys also want more resources for training young DAs and greater autonomy over their budgets and local programs. David is hopeful the court system will receive more money from the General Assembly during the next budget cycle.