Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman provoked an outcry from the Inland Empire when he posted a warning on Instagram to any criminals coming from San Bernardino County that times have changed and they now will be held accountable.

Hochman was standing in Claremont, at the L.A./San Bernardino county line, when he remarked that the border was something “criminals used to look forward to when they entered L.A. County because the laws weren’t being enforced as much as they were in San Bernardino County.”

“I’ve got a rude awakening for those criminals. We’re back!” he said. “The DA’s office is working with law enforcement and we’re going to actually enforce the laws and hold criminals accountable.”

Intended as a swipe at his predecessor, former one-term District Attorney George Gascon, who was perceived as soft on crime, Hochman’s comments instead were interpreted by some as tone deaf and, in the words of one critic, “a cheap shot.”

Feeds into ‘old stereotype’

That critic, Steve Lambert, a partner at the Upland-based public affairs firm The 20/20 Network, also branded Hochman’s comments “flat-out wrong.”

“If his point is that he’s tough on crime, he shouldn’t be using San Bernardino County and the Inland Empire as a prop, and that’s what he did,” Lambert said. “The inference of everything he’s saying is that the criminals are coming from elsewhere. It just feeds into that old stereotype of San Bernardino County being a source of crime for the region.”

In reality, Lambert said, the county has experienced tremendous growth in economic development and housing construction since the turn of the century. The Southern California Association of Governments projects a million people will be moving into San Bernardino County by 2050 for more affordable housing and better employment opportunities, he said.

And, as Hochman acknowledged, the region is attacking crime.

“So for him to lay out that old stereotype of our region is more than offensive; it counteracts all the great work that’s been done here. He’s got to be better than that,” Lambert said.

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Paul C. Granillo, president and CEO of the Inland Empire Economic Partnership, said he, too, was frustrated by Hochman’s comments. Granillo said he received a spate of text messages and phone calls from community leaders Thursday about the Instagram post as word rapidly spread through the community.

“The implication is that people from San Bernardino County were coming to L.A. and committing crimes, and that’s a bold stereotype,” said Granillo, whose Rancho Cucamonga-based organization promotes community members, local businesses and local government working together to build a stronger economy and quality of life in the Inland Empire.

“We need to be working together on issues around crime and not pointing fingers. But I am happy that the DA recognizes the good work of our sheriff and police departments,” he said.

Granillo said he also understands the intent behind Hochman’s message — that he was touting his tough-on-crime stance as a major about-face in his office — but feels the execution was poor.

“I voted for him,” Granillo said. “It’s not that I’m not supportive of what he’s doing, but unfortunately the message missed the mark.”

Mayor ‘dumbfounded’

Fontana Mayor Acquanetta Warren she was was sent a link to Hochman’s post by a friend, a retired probation officer living in Los Angeles.

“He said, ‘Did you see this mess?’ ” said Warren, who has served as Fontana’s mayor for the past 15 years.

“I was like, ‘Where are you going with this, dude? You’ve got enough trouble over there,’ ” said Warren said in a telephone interview.

When she viewed it, Warren said, she was “dumbfounded.”

She said she understands Hochman’s intended message, but thought it was poorly delivered and had unintended consequences.

“I think professionalism will prevail, but this guy has some catching up to do,” Warren said of Hochman, who deposed Gascon in the November election.

Hochman apologizes

In a phone interview with the Southern California News Group, Hochman apologized to anyone who took offense at his post. He said he certainly didn’t intend to cast stones at San Bernardino County.

“I wanted people to understand that L.A. County was going to join San Bernardino County in holding criminals accountable,” Hochman said. He praised San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson and the work his prosecutors have been doing over the years to hold criminals accountable.

He said his inspiration for the social media post was a 2024 billboard campaign by the Orange County district attorney’s office during a spate of smash-and-grab robberies and commercial burglaries in the county. “Crime doesn’t pay in Orange County,” proclaimed the billboards. “If you steal, we prosecute.”

Again, the message was targeted at criminals from surrounding counties who perhaps weren’t aware of Orange County’s tough-on-crime reputation. The OC district attorney’s office concluded that from August 2022 to May 2023, only one of 141 defendants criminally charged for smash-and-grabs, residential burglaries and commercial burglaries actually resided in Orange County.

Similarly, Hochman said said he wanted “to make it clear that criminals cannot come from other counties and get a free pass” in L.A. County.

But unlike in Orange County, Hochman said his data was anecdotal, based on conversations he had with Los Angeles police officers and sheriff’s deputies who informed him that a number of people arrested for crimes in L.A. County during Gascon’s tenure had addresses in San Bernardino County.

“They were moving from San Bernardino County, where the DA was holding them accountable, into Los Angeles County, where the DA wasn’t holding them accountable,” Hochman said. “And so, effectively, what I was trying to do was praise both the San Bernardino County DA’s office and the Orange County DA’s office in the sense they are holding criminals accountable, and making it clear if people cross the borders into L.A. County, we will hold them accountable.”

SB County DA not offended

Anderson, the San Bernardino County district attorney, said he was not among those offended by Hochman.

“I think it was a way for him to get his name out there and say he was taking a different approach in his county. Several other people in my office also saw it and weren’t offended at all,” Anderson said. “The way I took it was as a comparison of the idea that people got away with things in L.A. County because of the previous administration. I think he (Hochman) was saying there was a change in policy.”

Anderson said he could understand how some could take offense to the post, and believes any perception of San Bernardino County as a haven for criminals is seriously flawed.

“I don’t see San Bernardino County as a boiling cauldron of criminals. If somebody thought there was a bunch of crooks in San Bernardino County hopping over the county line to commit crimes, I don’t see it that way,” Anderson said. “When you look at a lot of our cities — Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Upland, Redlands and even cities in the High Desert — given the population increase, the crime rate per capita is relatively low in San Bernardino County.”

San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus declined to comment.