Moorpark and Simi Valley officials have long wanted a greater district attorney presence in their towns, and they might soon get their wish.

For the first time, the Moorpark and Simi Valley city councils have budgeted money for a community prosecutor to help handle quality-of-life issues, such as gang activity, graffiti and property theft.

Simi Valley earmarked $60,000 for the position and Moorpark $20,000, and District Attorney Greg Totten said he would allocate $52,000 annually for the next three years.

The next step is getting approval from the county Board of Supervisors.

"This program is very important to the east county," said Mark Lunn, chief of staff for Supervisor Peter Foy. "We've been doing outreach in Simi Valley and Moorpark to make this thing a reality for a long time."

As planned, the new deputy district attorney would rotate between offices in Simi Valley and Moorpark. Police detectives would no longer have to drive to Ventura to consult with the District Attorney's Office. The local prosecutor could help police with search warrants, misdemeanor and felony cases, investigations and arrests.

Detectives say hours can be spent filling out paperwork and taking it to west county for follow-up.

"It's an important addition to our public safety programs," said Moorpark Mayor Patrick Hunter.

In 2002, a community prosecutor program was started countywide with money from a federal grant designed to stem gang violence. But seven months later, the District Attorney's Office, which offered Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Moorpark and unincorporated areas their own prosecutor, had to pull the program because of a lack of funding.

Thousand Oaks was the only city that decided to pay to keep it going, spending $214,666 to have a senior deputy district attorney through 2009.

Moorpark detectives currently travel to Ventura about three times a week to meet with prosecutors, said Capt. Ron Nelson, the city's police chief. He said Moorpark has an average of about 60 felony cases a month.

"This will be a good program that will give us an option for in-house counsel," Nelson said.

Simi Valley City Manager Mike Sedell hopes a prosecutor will be set up at the Simi Valley courthouse within six weeks. "Filing locally, it will save a lot of time for our detectives," Sedell said.