Sullivan looks to the future as presumed DA
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NORTHAMPTON - Presumed to be the next Northwestern district attorney, Dave Sullivan says he will improve the way the region's top law enforcement agency handles court cases and reinvigorate its crime prevention programs.
But even though he faces no opposition in the general election, Sullivan said he'll wait until after Nov. 2 to begin planning these changes in earnest.
Sullivan's campaign ran a year and a half, and his primary election victory party stretched late into Tuesday night. But he appeared relaxed and rested as he discussed his plans the next morning. He spoke with a reporter in his office at the Hampshire Probate and Family Court in downtown Northampton, which is decorated with dozens of family photos and colorful artwork by his youngest daughter, Minh.
Sullivan said he hopes to meet with current district attorney Elizabeth Scheibel before the end of the year to review pending court cases and pave the way for a "seamless" shift into his new job.
"You make it cooperative," Sullivan said. "Everybody knows it's in the public's best interest to have a smooth transition."
Still, Sullivan was highly critical of Scheibel's administration during his campaign, and has pledged to make the district attorney's office more transparent and accessible to the public than his predecessor.
Campaigning as a reformer helped propel Sullivan, now the Hampshire register of probate, to victory over Michael A. Cahillane, a former prosecutor under Scheibel. Sullivan won 17,427 votes across the district, which includes Hampshire and Franklin counties and Athol. Cahillane garnered 8,568 votes.
He hopes to do that in part by revamping the agency's website and producing what he calls a "citizens' guide to the district attorney's office" detailing its multiple functions.
A high priority is revitalizing the office's consumer protection unit, Sullivan said. He envisions producing radio ads, educational videos and regular newspaper columns to raise public awareness about scams.
"They change every day," he said. "The scam artists are very creative and know how to shift gears awfully quick."
Sullivan also plans a top-to-bottom review of the office's other crime prevention programs - including ones focused on child and elder abuse and domestic violence - to evaluate how effective each one is and how they can be improved.
While Sullivan has emphasized crime prevention, he said prosecuting crimes is still the office's primary duty.
A centerpiece of Sullivan's campaign was his proposal to introduce a concept called "community prosecution" to the Northwestern district.
The concept involves assigning individual prosecutors to the district's larger cities and towns, like Northampton and Greenfield, or to groups of communities like the Hilltowns. The assigned prosecutors would forge ties with local police and community members to get a better feel for how to address specific towns' needs, Sullivan said.
Elements of community prosecution are already used to good effect in Hampden and Bristol counties, he said.
Senior prosecutors would still specialize in the most serious crimes, such as murders, child sexual abuse and drug distribution, Sullivan said, and handle them wherever they crop up in the district.
Sullivan said he also hopes to streamline the court process by using a "vertical prosecution" model, where a single prosecutor handles a case from beginning to end. Today, particularly in the district courts, cases often have different prosecutors from arraignment to pretrial hearing to trial.
An approach similar to vertical prosecution has helped resolve cases more quickly in Hampshire Probate and Family Court, Sullivan said.
"There's an inefficiency that develops when lawyers and judges are looking at cases that have already been looked at," he said in a previous interview.
Sullivan said Wednesday he'd already started reaching out to police chiefs around the region and pledging to help them meet their goals. The district attorney's office often assists police in drafting search warrants and providing training in the law for police officers.
Cahillane, who worked closely with many area police departments in his time as a prosecutor, had the backing of police unions in Northampton, Easthampton, Amherst and other towns. But Sullivan said he's not worried about winning over law enforcement personnel when he takes office.
"They're just looking for a good person - someone who's going to dig their heels in and get back to them in a timely fashion," he said.
Each of the 11 district attorneys in Massachusetts earns $148,843, a salary set by the Legislature in 2007. The Northwestern district attorney's office has an annual budget of $4.7 million and a staff of more than 70.
Sullivan said he doesn't yet have anyone in mind to serve as his deputy or in other roles in the office.
While during the campaign Sullivan said he hopes to build a stronger and more racially diverse team of prosecutors, he said Tuesday he will invite all current district attorneys office employees to reapply for their positions when he takes over.
"I've not formed any list of people" to join the office, Sullivan said. "I want to make sure it's an open process."
James F. Lowe can be reached at jlowe@gazettenet.com.
