“This is a victory for Waukesha County. An increase in ADAs is a vital step in managing the extensive caseload our justice system faces. We are confident that this addition will promote the health and safety of our community.”

The increase is allegedly slated to help alleviate some of the high case loads the Waukesha County District Attorney’s office has been dealing with. DA Leslie Boese has repeatedly warned that the county’s office has been in desperate need of additional funding for staff. As of May 2025, the office only has 16 total assistant district attorneys. This number is significantly lower than the Wisconsin Department of Administration’s analysis. Ideally, Waukesha County would have about 10 more assistant district attorneys.

As the county’s population has increased, so has the demand for assistant district attorneys. The suggested ratio for an area would be one assistant district attorney for every 10,000 residents. Waukesha County currently has a population that sits at around 412,000. Although this new funding will help fill in this gap in staffing, there is still room for progress in the future.

The current lack of resources in Boese’s office poses serious threats for the safety of the community. Assistant prosectors may end up handling over 200 cases at a time, which can create problems where there isn’t enough time to properly handle each case.

Earlier this year, Boese spoke about the issue, stating:

“I unfortunately have to start making hard decisions of which cases don’t get charged. It’s going to be lower-level misdemeanor. It’s not going to affect felonies. It’s not going to impact assaultive behavior or threatening behavior. There’s a group of crimes I won’t have the staff to do it. That really pains me because I was voted in to keep our community safe, and the state is not giving me the tools to do that.”

The new funding increase is a good start to help prevent any further build up of backlogs in the DA’s office.