The program assembled a new unit consisting of more than a dozen members who are sent to the sites of accidents involving deaths, injuries and threats to the environment, immediately upon notification by first responders.

[14] In 2014, Lacey announced an alternative sentencing program aimed at diverting mentally ill, low-level offenders from jail into treatment.

The program was designed to reduce jail overcrowding and end a revolving door for offenders with mental illness who find themselves incarcerated for relatively minor crimes.

In 2015, Lacey announced the creation of the Conviction Review Unit, dedicated to pursuing the innocence claims of people imprisoned for serious felonies, if new evidence is discovered.

[19] In 2017, Lacey launched the Notario Fraud Unit with the goal of prosecuting those involved in immigration service scams who pose as either attorneys, special agents, or government workers who could expedite the processing of legal documents.

[20] In April 2019, Lacey announced that Los Angeles County would collaborate with Code for America, a nonprofit tech organization, to identify decades-old court cases to reduce or expunge 50,000 marijuana convictions.

[21] Additionally, in response to the homeless population being repeatedly ticketed and arrested for minor infractions, DA Jackie Lacey, City Attorney Mike Feuer, and LAPD Chief Michel Moore agreed to “unclog” the court system of more than 300,000 older warrants and citations.

The plan, known as the Fugitive Misdemeanant Recovery Program, allows law enforcement and safety officials to focus on dangerous criminals instead of time on minor infractions involving the homeless.

[9] In June 2020, amid the George Floyd protests for criminal justice reform, Eric Garcetti, the incumbent Mayor of Los Angeles and Congressman Adam Schiff rescinded their prior endorsement of Lacey and endorsed her opponent George Gascón in the lead-up to the 2020 Los Angeles County District Attorney election.

[25][26] During her term, Lacey was heavily criticized by Black Lives Matter,[27] the ACLU[28] and others for failing to prosecute a single member of Los Angeles County law enforcement for murder.

At the time, Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies found "nearly two grams of methamphetamine, syringes and drug paraphernalia throughout the residence".

In an October 2019 meeting of the Stonewall Democratic Club, a gay rights organization in Los Angeles, Lacey claimed that Sheriff's deputies' illegal search and seizure of evidence in Buck's residence at the time of Moore's death rendered the evidence inadmissible in court, and therefore "presented a challenge" to her efforts to prosecute.

[35] Lacey's office then charged Buck with "one felony count each of battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine and maintaining a drug house.

[42][43] In June 2020, a group of high-profile prosecutors from California's most heavily populated counties, lobbied the California State Bar to prohibit District Attorneys from accepting donations from law enforcement unions, citing the possible conflicts of interest with respect to how district attorneys investigate, prosecute, or interact with police officers.

[45] During the 2020 Los Angeles County District Attorney primary election, law enforcement unions had contributed over 75% of the $2.2 million raised by Lacey.