Clash between Bay Area law enforcement and the District Attorney's office surfaced as Livermore Police Chief Jeramy Young publicly addressed Alameda DA Pamela Price in a letter, urging her to consider harsher penalties for a violent repeat offender.
UPDATE: @LivermorePolice @ChiefJeramy frustrated that @AlamedaCountyDA Pamela Price won’t file enhancements against Colby Berry, convicted felon charged w/attacking 2 women at shopping center & robbing one of them at gunpoint while wearing ankle monitor. @TomVacarKTVU reports pic.twitter.com/kBVmJm9Ha7
— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) July 26, 2023
21-year-old Colby Berry, a parolee from Fremont, allegedly violently attacked and robbed two women in the Arroyo Shopping Center parking lot on May 21 reported by KRON4. Livermore Police Department responded to the incident and connected Berry to the crimes via witness statements and his GPS ankle monitor, revealing he was on parole and already under supervision at the time of the robberies.
Chief Young, who has been with Livermore Police since 2014 and was promoted to chief in 2020, took the uncharacteristic step of publicly disagreeing with the district attorney's office in his letter to DA Price. In the letter, he requested that sentencing enhancements be filed against Berry, including firearm enhancements and career criminal enhancements, citing Berry's history of violence and disregard for the law per Livermore Police Department.
However, DA Price has not filed the enhanced charges against Berry, causing concern among law enforcement and the community. Critics argue that Price's approach to crime has been overly lenient since she assumed office earlier this year – an issue that has led to a recall effort. Price has been known to favor diversion programs over automatically adding sentencing enhancements, stating that the criminal justice system has been shown to be racially biased according to CBS San Francisco.
In response to the public letter, DA Price released a video statement mentioned by KRON4, claiming her office was "evaluating whether an enhancement was necessary to protect public safety" and adding that "overusing enhancements has led to Alameda County having the fifth largest county jail in the world." Despite this, Young maintains that the enhancements are "necessary tools to safeguard the public against an individual who poses a clear danger to their safety."
Colby Berry is currently being held on $350,000 bail and is scheduled for his next court appearance on August 11.
