Waukesha County's new district attorney is calling the staffing shortage facing her office a "crisis." Lesli Boese says her prosecutors are stretched so thin, cases may go unprosecuted once the funding runs out on several temporary positions filled using federal grants. Already a prosecutor in the Waukesha County district attorney's office for 30 years, Lesli Boese was sworn in in January as the new district attorney. "It's not just all retail thefts. I mean, there's a lot of very complicated white-collar crimes," Boese said Friday in an interview with WISN 12. "And we're having the armed robberies, and we're having the homicides, so that's really been an eye opener to the volume coming in."Felony cases have jumped 20% in the last decade and trials have more than doubled, yet the number of prosecutors hasn't increased this century, the same today as it was in 1999. "I think as a direct result of a lack of prosecutors, Waukesha County will be a less safe community to live in," Boese said, sounding the alarm.There are 16 full-time prosecutors, but a recent analysis by the Wisconsin Department of Administration shows there should be 26 based on Waukesha County's population and crime statistics. WISN 12 News reporter Nick Bohr asked Boese what the impact would be if the resources aren't made available by Governor Tony Evers and the state legislature."This is the hard part for me to say, because that's what I ran on," Boese said. "Now, what I'm saying is, if I don't have the prosecutors, I can't charge all the crime that's coming in."Prosecutors in Wisconsin are state employees so Boese is sending a letter to the governor and legislature in the next few days calling attention to what she calls a "crisis.""I came into this job saying how important public safety is, how my goal was to hold criminals accountable for their conduct," Boese said. "And I really am being backed into a corner where the state and the governor are not giving me the resources to do my job and the job I was elected to do. And that's a huge concern. I don't cry wolf, but I'd call it a crisis," she said. "It sends the wrong message to police officers who risk their lives on a daily basis to catch criminals, do the investigation. It sends the wrong message to the victims, that we don't care that you were a victim, which I think is the wrong message. It sends the wrong message to the defendants who don't get charged. I think it emboldens them that, 'Hey you know, what else can I do?'" Boese said. Waukesha County is the third most populous county in the state, behind only Milwaukee and Dane counties. According to statistics from the Wisconsin Department of Administration, Waukesha County has fewer prosecutors than Kenosha County's 18 and Racine County's 20, even though Waukesha County has more than double the population. Top Headlines'Severe underperformance': Harley-Davidson board member resignsWe Energies announces death of beloved peregrine falconsKenosha police zero-in on 'tavern skimming crew' scamming bar gambling machinesCat survives 3 weeks trapped in Milwaukee apartment ductwork