OAKLAND — Ursula Jones Dickson took the oath of office Tuesday to become Alameda County’s next district attorney, promising numerous changes and declaring that “we need to get back to business” after the historic recall of her successor, Pamela Price.
A former Alameda County prosecutor who spent the past 11 years as a superior court judge, Jones Dickson vowed to “do work on behalf of everybody” after being sworn in as the county’s top prosecutor. Although her appointment to the seat by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors ends in 2026, she stressed she’s “in this for the long haul” and plans to seek election in 2028 and 2032.
Moments after taking the oath, Jones Dickson asked for patience from residents to “get it right.” Even so, she used a press conference before the swearing in to announce quick changes, including an end to one of Price’s hallmark policies that limited maximum prison sentences.
“Things are out of whack, but I’m going to tell you, I’m going to fix it,” Jones Dickson said.
Jones Dickson received a rousing applause from a standing-room-only ceremony, which included former Alameda County district attorneys Nancy O’Malley, Tom Orloff and D. Lowell Jensen, as well as San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and Oakland police Chief Floyd Mitchell. Fellow Alameda County Superior Court Judge Charles Smiley administered the oath of office.
Jones Dickson cast herself as a stark departure from her predecessor.
Former Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley and new Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson greet one another before being sworn in during the swearing-in ceremony at the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. Jones Dickson replaces Pamela Price, who was recalled last Nov.. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
She vowed to give line-level prosecutors more discretion in prosecuting crimes and filing sentencing enhancements. On her first day in office, Jones Dickson said she planned to rescind a policy requiring prosecutors to seek approval from the office’s leaders before filing such enhancements, which can add decades to a defendant’s potential prison sentence for various aggravating factors, such as using a gun or causing serious injury in certain crimes
The policy was implemented just months after Price took office in January 2023 as a means of reforming the East Bay’s justice system and pushing back against the nation’s legacy of mass incarceration, which disproportionately affected Black people and other communities of color. Organizers of the successful November recall against Price often cited the policy as one of their chief concerns, calling it emblematic of an approach to crime that appeared too lenient.
“The expectation is the people we have charging cases know how to charge a case,” Jones Dickson said. “They shouldn’t have to go through three levels of supervisors to determine whether or not an enhancement should be charged.”
Jones Dickson announced longtime local prosecutor Annie Esposito would return to Alameda County as her chief assistant, a role Esposito held with O’Malley and, most recently, Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton. Jones Dickson declined to name any other members of her incoming command staff, saying some had yet to notify their current bosses they were in consideration.
And in a move rife with symbolism, Jones Dickson said that her office’s headquarters would be returning to the ninth floor of the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse — a homecoming of sorts, after Price moved her office and her command staff to an East Oakland office near the airport.
Jones Dickson’s arrival comes barely two years after Price took her oath of office as the first Black woman to be sworn in as the county’s district attorney, in what the longtime civil rights attorney called “an exclamation point in history.”
Price won election in November 2022 seeking to upend and reimagine the East Bay’s criminal justice system, touting a more progressive vision that included prioritizing shorter prison sentences and beefing up alternatives to prison, while seeking more lenient prosecutions of defendants under the age of 25. She subsequently made scores of hires during her two-year tenure, many of them former public defenders and private attorneys who touted backgrounds in criminal justice reform, but little in the way of prosecutorial experience.
New Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson, right, reacts after sworn-in before Alameda County Judge Charles Smiley during the swearing-in ceremony at the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. Jones Dickson replaces Pamela Price who was recalled last Nov.. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
On Wednesday, Jones Dickson voiced uncertainty over whether she’d be able to “keep every single DA that we hired, because I don’t know that we have the funding to do so.” She has repeatedly promised an audit of the office’s finances, while suggesting attorneys hired under Price could face extra training.
“We need to go back to some training, so if people are willing to do the job of a district attorney, I’m happy to facilitate that for them,” said Jones Dickson, adding that “if that’s something that they don’t want to do because they came to this office under a different administration, that’s a conversation we should have, and there are other places for them to be.”
Moments after Jones Dickson was sworn in, Jenkins, the SF DA, voiced excitement at working with the judge-turned-district attorney across the Bay Bridge. Jenkins was also appointed to replace a recalled DA, following the ouster of Chesa Boudin in June 2022. The challenge for Jones Dickson, she said, will be to manage a restless electorate eager for quicker results.
“They want to see change immediately, and that’s a lot of pressure,” Jenkins said.
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.
