Attorney General Bonta: At California Department of Justice, Public Safety is Job Number One, Two, and Three

LOS ANGELES - California Attorney General Rob Bonta today released statistics highlighting the importance of the public safety work at the California Department of Justice (DOJ). DOJ is working hard defending victims, dismantling human trafficking rings, keeping deadly drugs off the streets, and enforcing strong gun safety laws. Over the past five years, DOJ has worked with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners to combat violent crime, crack cold cases, and disrupt the supply of fentanyl.

"Across all of these numbers, all of these operations, the message is clear: if you break the law, endanger our people, and threaten public safety, we'll come for you.," said Attorney General Bonta. "I am incredibly proud of our special agents who are out in the field, boots on the ground, and risking their lives daily. We have been busy putting traffickers behind bars, standing with survivors, taking deadly fentanyl off our streets, and removing illegal firearms from the hands of people who should not have them. Despite significant reductions in federal public safety funding and rollbacks of commonsense public safety policies under the Trump Administration, we remain focused on partnering with law enforcement agencies, supporting victims and survivors, disrupting criminal networks, and enforcing California's public safety laws. These numbers represent more than arrests and seizures - they represent lives saved, families kept safe, and communities protected. We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to protect Californians and hold those who threaten our communities accountable."

Standing Up for Human Trafficking Survivors

DOJ has prioritized combating human trafficking, holding traffickers and sex buyers accountable, and ensuring survivors receive the support they need.

In the past five years:

• Approximately 1,167 human-trafficking-related arrests have been made, including arrests of sex buyers and traffickers.
• Approximately 1,196 victims have been rescued, offered assistance, or supported.

These numbers underscore the commitment of DOJ to fight against human trafficking through the efforts of three specialized teams, the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, Fresno Human Trafficking/Sexual Predator Apprehension Team, and Sacramento Regional Human Trafficking Task Force. DOJ's Human Trafficking Task Forces have worked tirelessly to investigate, identify, and recover victims exploited for profit and gain by human traffickers and sexual predators. Human Trafficking is the exploitation by force, fraud, fear, or coercion of vulnerable people, for mandatory labor, domestic servitude, or commercial sex operations.

DOJ Victims' Services Unit (VSU) works in conjunction with victim service providers and all across the state to provide victim-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally-sensitive support services to all crime victims, including underserved, at-risk, underrepresented, and vulnerable populations. More information about VSU is available at oag.ca.gov/victimservices or by calling (877) 433-9069.

If you or someone you know is being forced to engage in any activity and cannot leave, you can call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at (888)373-7888 to access help and services. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 9-1-1. Additional information and resources to support survivors of human trafficking is available at https://oag.ca.gov/human-trafficking.

Taking Fentanyl and Other Deadly Drugs Off California Streets

DOJ has focused on disrupting the trafficking and distribution of fentanyl, one of the deadliest drugs affecting California communities.

In the past five years:

• 17,871,765 fentanyl pills have been seized.
• 7,220 pounds of fentanyl powder have been seized.
• 626 fentanyl-related arrests have been made.

In 2023, DOJ developed the Fentanyl Enforcement Program in response to an emerging California fentanyl epidemic. The Fentanyl Enforcement Program houses three teams in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Dublin, California. The goal of the Fentanyl Enforcement Program is to identify and dismantle fentanyl distribution organizations throughout California. DOJ has also seized significant quantities of other dangerous drugs, including methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin, as part of its broader efforts to disrupt drug-trafficking networks.

Removing Illegal Guns from California Communities

DOJ has continued to enforce state gun safety laws and use investigative tools to identify and remove illegally possessed firearms.

In the past five years:

• 10,210 firearms have been seized, including:
• • 5,390 firearms identified through the Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS); and
  • 4,820 non-APPS firearms including ghost guns, assault weapons, and machine guns.
    

Established in 2006 as the first system of its kind in the nation, the APPS database identifies individuals who legally acquired firearms, became prohibited from keeping them, and then failed to relinquish those firearms. Under California and federal law, individuals may be prohibited from owning and possessing firearms due to several circumstances - such as felony convictions, violent misdemeanor convictions, restraining orders, or through a determination that a person is a danger to themselves or others because of severe mental illness.

Attorney General Bonta has also enforced California's gun safety laws, including the state's Gun Violence Restraining Order framework, age restrictions, and training requirements for concealed carry permits. Under his leadership, DOJ also established the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, the first office of its kind in the nation, to coordinate and strengthen the state's efforts to prevent gun violence.

Providing California Families Closure through Cracking Cold Cases

DOJ has continued to use innovative scientific techniques to inform the criminal justice system and provide a voice for victims of crime.

In the past five years:

• DOJ's Bureau of Forensic Services provided scientific analysis for 196,864 requests. These requests for analysis include:
• • 53,787 analyses for driving under the influence of alcohol
  • 83,820 analyses involving controlled substance possession
  • 10,055 DNA analysis requests
  • 8,981 Rapid DNA Service (RADS) sexual assault kits
  • 662 field responses to crime scene investigations
  • 5,660 latent print requests
  • 24,344 analyses for driving under the influence of drugs
  • 2,521 firearms comparisons
  • 7,034 requests in various areas such as biological evidence, arson, paint, and gunshot residue
• The California DNA Data Bank processed 37,516 total CODIS hits and had an average monthly hit rate of 615.
• The DNA Data Bank also logged 3,500,000 data bank profiles uploaded to CODIS in June 2026 and registered over 100,000 total hits to both offender and case-to-case profiles in October 2022.

DOJ's Missing Persons DNA Program (MPDP), established in 2001, is responsible for providing DNA testing to address all cases of missing persons and unidentified human remains throughout the state. To this end, the MPDP works with coroners, medical examiners, and law enforcement agencies from all of California's 58 counties to ensure that all relevant cases have been submitted for DNA testing. The MPDP compares DNA from unidentified persons and unidentified human remains with DNA from personal articles belonging to missing persons and DNA from relatives of missing persons with the sole purpose of contributing to the effort of identifying missing persons and bringing closure to their families.

DOJ's Familial Search Program compares DNA from unsolved serious crimes against California's Convicted Offender DNA Database to identify potential relatives of perpetrators. If a potential relative is identified, and if additional investigation by DOJ's Bureau of Investigation supports the genetic information, an investigative lead is provided to law enforcement. The program uses technology and comparison data that is distinct from Forensic Investigated Genetic Genealogy.

The Familial Search Program is one of many programs within DOJ's Bureau of Forensic Services (BFS). BFS is a comprehensive, state-of-the-art accredited laboratory system servicing 46 of the state's 58 counties. BFS operates 10 regional crime laboratories for which forensic scientists collect, analyze, interpret, and compare physical evidence from suspected crimes. DNA casework analysis is performed at the Jan Bashinski DNA Laboratory in Richmond, as well as regional laboratories located in Ripon, Fresno, Redding, Riverside, Sacramento, and Santa Barbara. The Jan Bashinski DNA Laboratory also houses the DNA Databank, Missing Persons DNA Program, Method Development, and the Familial Searching program. BFS services are provided at no cost to law enforcement agencies in the 46 counties.

A fact sheet outlining the work of the Bureau of Forensic Services can be found here.

Exposing the Underground Cannabis Market

DOJ works to provide a comprehensive approach to addresses the broader implications of the underground cannabis market, from tackling the environmental damage caused by these illicit activities, to confronting the economic and labor ramifications that arise from unregulated cultivation.

In the past five years:

• 1,290 illegal cannabis arrests have been made.
• 4,644,550 illegally cultivated cannabis plants were seized.

The Eradication and Prevention of Illicit Cannabis (EPIC) program is an interagency task force focused on combating the illegal cannabis market, cannabis enforcement work, and investigating and prosecuting civil and criminal cases with a focus on environmental, economic, and labor impacts from illegal cultivation.