Terri Perez, JD
Terri Perez, JD has been a Deputy District Attorney for 26 years, and currently serves as the Chief of Narcotics in the San Diego District Attorney’s Office. Prior to working in Narcotics, she served as the Assistant Chief of the East County Branch, where she supervised attorneys and staff, and worked closely with law enforcement, advising them on any case involving informants and other confidential information. She also worked in the North County Branch, assigned to the Gang Prosecution Division, where she handled serious and complex cases including murders, attempt murders, robberies and assaults.
Since becoming the Chief of Narcotics in June 2017, she has focused a significant amount of her time addressing the opioid crisis. Recognizing that the numbers of overdoses were on the rise in San Diego due to the deadly drug fentanyl, she worked with law enforcement agencies to create a team that would respond to overdose deaths and investigate them as homicides. This team, which is called Narcotics Task Force Team 10, responds immediately to death scenes and works tirelessly to identify the source of the drugs and get the dealer into custody. Team 10 has responded to over 200 deaths in the past two years since the inception of the team. In addition to creating this team, DDA Perez has reached out to the medical community, schools, and community groups to raise awareness of the dangers of fentanyl. She assisted in the development of an opioid campaign designed to educate the public on addiction, overdoses and the risks of drugs laced with fentanyl. She has also been working to create the first of its kind juvenile opioid summit, targeting middle schools and high schools. With powerful speakers and entertainers, the goal is to reach as many students as possible and prevent overdoses.
DDA Perez teaches law enforcement in the areas of Search and Seizures, Narcotics Expert Testimony, Gang Expert Testimony and Handling Confidential Informants. In 2019, she received the Prosecutor of the Year Award from the California Narcotics Officers’ Association for her work in the area of opioids.
