D.A.: We need more money

Since the city plans on hiring more cops which may mean more arrests, the District Attorney's Office told City Council Tuesday it needs more dough to hire additional assistant district attorneys to handle the larger caseload.

District Attorney Seth Williams wants $636,675 to hire 13 assistant district attorneys at a starting salary of $48,975. His office now has a $31 million budget.

"If there are more police officers on the streets, there should necessarily be more arrests," Williams told Council during a budget hearing yesterday. "My office is woefully underfunded. Increasing our caseload without providing for additional funding is not good for public safety."

But Councilman Bill Green noted that Mayor Nutter's proposed budget, which included hiring 400 new police officers by the end of fiscal year 2013, accounted for attrition and maintaining 6,500 uniformed officers over the course of the five-year plan and would not necessarily be an increase in cops.

Contact Jan Ransom at 215-854-5218 or Ransomj@phillynews.com, or follow on Twitter @Jan_Ransom