District Attorney Sherry Boston asked DeKalb County's Finance, Audit and Budget Committee on an emergency basis to create nine positions in the DA's office, citing rising demand for digital evidence processing and internal operations support.

Boston told the committee the request is a critical budget item that could not wait for the normal budget cycle. "We are bringing this to you outside of the normal budget cycle, in part because we see this as an an emergency request, a critical request that that really cannot wait until, the budget cycle next year," Boston said. She described three positions for the office's operations and special projects unit and additional hires for the digital forensics unit.

The DA said her office has grown from about 157 staff in 2017 to more than 300 employees operating across five locations, and that a small operations team is now overburdened. "We have 1 employee, who is responsible for all the IT needs of 300 employees," Boston said, noting that team members who maintain critical systems can be temporarily unavailable. She asked for a legal office coordinator and two IT-focused roles among the initial three positions to stabilize operations.

Boston also described increased demand for the office's digital forensics work. The lab performs phone and computer extractions and supports multiple law-enforcement partners. She provided the committee with 2024 output figures the office supplied: 248 phone extractions, 14 computer extractions, 41 miscellaneous digital requests, 23 trial testimonies, 429 device search warrants, 261 cell-phone search warrants, 150 social-media warrants, 84 Google warrants, 24 Apple iCloud requests, 190 extractions for U.S. Marshals/fugitive matters and 29 miscellaneous items. "We are on pace to far and away exceed that in 2025," Boston said.

Boston said the lab has helped both to prosecute cases and to assist law enforcement in real time, citing a recent missing-person case in which phone data helped locate the young victim. She told the committee the lab supports DeKalb County Police Department, smaller municipal departments and federal partners when they lack their own capacity.

The DA said the total fiscal impact shown in materials provided to the committee for all nine positions and related costs is $488,131 for the October-to-Dec. 31 prorated period. During discussion a county official cited an annualized estimate of about $591,000 and noted a prorated figure near $113,000 for the remainder of the current calendar year; committee members asked staff to reconcile the differing figures before final board action.

Committee action and next steps
The committee voted to recommend approval to the full Board of Commissioners of three operations-related positions (legal office coordinator, departmental information-technology specialist and systems analyst senior). The motion to recommend those three positions was moved by Commissioner Shakira Johnson and seconded by Commissioner Ted Terry; Chair Terry recorded the aye vote and the motion carried. The committee took no recommendation on the remaining digital-forensics positions and directed the DA and county administration to return to the full board with additional information before Oct. 14: (1) a breakdown of which law-enforcement agencies use the lab and in what proportions, and (2) the budget impact if the county moves immediately to add full-year staffing.

What officials said about equipment, certification and cost
Boston told the committee that licenses and certifications for digital-forensics software are expensive and that laboratory staff must maintain yearly certifications. She said the unit initially stood up with ARPA funds and later was absorbed into the DA's operating budget. Boston also said equipment and forensic-extraction software are paid as part of the positions' package and that individual partner organizations are responsible for clinical/forensic equipment in shared spaces.

Why this matters
County leaders said the work of the lab aids both crime-solving and prosecution and that capacity shortfalls can slow investigations and trials. Committee members said they supported adding the operations and IT roles now while seeking more complete data before committing to the full nine-position package.

Ending
The committee asked the DA and county administration to supply the requested agency-use breakdown and a reconciled fiscal figure ahead of the Board's Oct. 14 voting meeting so the Board can consider whether to fund the remaining digital-forensics hires in time to meet operational needs.