WASHINGTON (AP) -- District of Columbia Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton is introducing a bill in Congress to give Washington an elected district attorney to prosecute local crime instead of the U.S. Attorney.
Norton says there is no law enforcement issue more important to DC residents on which they have less say than prosecution of local crimes. She introduced the bill Tuesday.
Norton says her bill follows a 2002 nonbinding referendum in which 82 percent of DC voters approved a locally elected district attorney.
As the district's delegate to Congress, Norton says the U.S. Attorney's Office needs to be freed up to handle national security and other vital federal cases, rather than local crime. She says national security should be the focus of federal prosecutors after 9/11 in the nation's capital.