Attending her first meeting of the 52nd Precinct Community Council in Norwood, newly elected Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark reiterated several new plans and initiatives for the borough to combat crime, while also shedding light into the continued backlog of cases at Bronx criminal courts.

During the March 24 meeting at the 52nd Precinct stationhouse on Webster Avenue, Clark, the first female DA in the borough, admitted, “In the Bronx, we have the worst backlog and I’m working through that trying to make the office more effective and efficient.”

Clark explained how she intends to restructure the office so one prosecutor takes a case from arraignment to prosecution, instead of the current system where one prosecutor can often hand the case off to another, causing needless delay. The Bronx is the only borough not to have the so-called “vertical system” of prosecution, according to Clark.

To implement and sustain that system, Clark needs funds, a reason she turned to the New York City Council for a request. She admits she faces an “uphill battle.” “They want me to get rid of the backlog,” said Clark. “Then they have to give me the money.”

Rikers Island, the city’s jail, remains a problem, according to Clark. She told a tightly packed crowd her plan to open a satellite office at the prison to investigate and prosecute crimes that happen there.

Clark said, “I want to make sure that I’m known as a prosecutor that’s going to be hard and tough as I was as a judge,” but added she wants to be known as “a prosecutor that has compassion for” people with mental health and drug issues. Fielding questions from the audience, she said she has formed an alliance with local clergy leaders as well as forming the new “Immigrant Affairs Unit” to fight bias and hate crimes against minorities.

“They’re a very special population,” said Clark, a Democrat. “People prey on them because of the fact that they’re immigrants and they think they will not report certain crimes.”