Riverside County DA gets almost $1 million grant for prosecuting DUI cases

The Riverside County District Attorney's Office announced today the receipt of a nearly $1 million grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) aimed at prosecution costs in DUI cases.

The $942,459 grant, which covers "a vertical prosecution team of four deputy district attorneys,'' was green-lit by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 22 and runs through the end of September 2025, according to a press release from the office of District Attorney Mike Hestrin.

The amount is a 39% increase from the previous grant, which added another prosecutor to the team, according to the release.   

Hestrin's office touted the impact of using specialized prosecutors for DUI cases, claiming that convictions on related offenses "more than doubled" once the OTS grants to the county expanded in 2014.

Part of the grant necessitates the deputy district attorneys collaborating with the state-level Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor Training Network through undergoing and passing on specialized training, as well as communicating with other prosecutors and law enforcement in California.

The release did not specify what information or data would be shared.