Kerry Healey’s tough talk on crime not matched by actions

Serghino René

Fed up with Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey’s political attacks against Democratic rival Deval Patrick, a coalition of law enforcement officials and community leaders lined up last Friday to set the record straight on Healey’s contradictory views on public safety, prison re-entry programs and victims of sexual assault.

“The people who do this job every day are willing to stand up and say that what she is putting out there is inaccurate,” said Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral as she stood with the group near the Adams Courthouse in Pemberton Square. “It’s in our interest, and [the interest of] the people we serve, to publicly say that it’s not going to get done and it won’t get done if [Healey] is governor.”

Cabral was just getting started.

“During this campaign, in an attempt to mask [Healey’s] lack of leadership, there is a disconnect,” she said. “We’ve been subjected to destructive, divisive, distorted rhetoric and campaign ads that serve no one and do nothing to address the real public safety crisis facing this Commonwealth.”

A few months ago, Cabral stood firmly behind Patrick when he introduced a public safety plan that would include hiring 1,000 new police officers, create stronger partnerships throughout the state among law enforcement officials and community leaders, expand community policing and support more youth initiatives.

Patrick has said time and time again that “the best and cheapest form of public protection is prevention,” and the best way to prevent street and violent crime of any kind is to ensure that everyone has a job, economic opportunity.”

Cabral stood as firmly last week as she did then. “We know what works in making communities safer,” Cabral said. “We need community policing, support for tough handgun laws, adequate funding for domestic violence and sexual assault, human service and social service programs, funding for county and state corrections re-entry programs and, most importantly, a collaborative leadership on these issues.”

Despite repeated attempts by the Banner seeking comment, the Healey campaign did not return telephone messages and emails.

Joining Cabral at last week’s press conference was former state Attorney General Scott Harshbarger. He was just as critical.

At the request of the Romney-Healey administration, Harshbarger chaired the Corrections Reform Commission following the murder of former priest and convicted child molester John Gagen. He spent two years with the state Corrections Commissioner to devise a plan that would improve public safety.

Today, that plan still sits on a shelf. Harshbarger says the Romney-Healey administration did nothing to help implement it.

“Instead of improving the re-entry effort,” Harshbarger said, “Healey has done nothing to help us have criminals return less dangerous than when they went in when they return to Springfield, Boston, New Bedford and so forth. That’s a tragedy! That’s hypocrisy! And that’s why it’s all about sound bites and not about crime.”

Harshbarger’s assessment stands in stark contrast to campaign promises found on Healey’s website. According to Healey’s 50-point plan, her administration would establish mandatory post-release supervision for all convicted felons. The program would both supervise and prepare ex-inmates for life outside prison including job training, substance abuse treatment and housing options.

Revere City Councilors Dan Rizzo and John Powers also attended the conference and discredited Healey’s claim on being tough on crime. Rizzo explained that the number of police officers in his city has decreased from 118 before Gov. Mitt Romney and Healey took office to a disappointing 100 officers under the Romney-Healey administration.

“If this is a plan for success, then it’s a plan we should all be wary of,” said Rizzo.

Powers said the administration talks about having a tough position on crime, but they don’t know the first thing about it.

“Get out of Belmont! Get out of Beverly Farms!” Powers said. “If they got into the rough-and-tumble of city issues, they’d understand what’s wrong with this Commonwealth.”

John Rosenthal, president of Stop Handgun Violence, had his turn. Since 1994 his organization, which promotes sensible gun ownership, has helped pass some of the most comprehensive gun laws in the nation.

Gun injuries in the state have been reduced by 50 percent, homicide by 56 percent and gun accidents by 58 percent. Their efforts have earned Massachusetts an A rating, making the state a national leader and placing it among the top three states in the nation in terms of lowest fatality rates.

Rosenthal said the state’s gun laws are not complicated, nor do they need change. “If you’re a gun owner, you have to lock your gun,” Rosenthal said. “If you’re a gun dealer, you have to operate in a store separate from your car, truck or backpack. If you’re a gun manufacturer, you have to make a safer product, and if you’re law enforcement, you have to do background checks and [you’ve] got to be accountable.”

But those laws apparently are not good enough for Healey. She recently called for stripping local police chief’s power to issue gun licenses and transferring the responsibility to a specially appointed state public safety official. She believes the current laws are appropriate in protecting public safety, but shouldn’t infringe on the rights of gun owners.

Rosenthal was clearly opposed. “[Healey] wants to put restrictions, not on access to guns by kids and criminals, but access to information by law enforcement and front line chiefs who know the residents of their town,” said Rosenthal. “If white kids were dying in Beverly or Prides Crossing at the rate kids are dying in Dorchester and Roxbury, believe me, you couldn’t get away with saying you want to take the power away from the chiefs.”

Attorney Cathy Green is a former Healey appointee to the Massachusetts Commission for Women and the Massachusetts Commission on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. She too expressed her disapproval of Healey as a candidate for governor, saying that under the present administration, funding for victim services has decreased while demand has increased.

“At the end of the day,” Green said, “no commission, no task force, no reports, no studies or government restructuring can ever hope to ultimately have an impact on victim services and effective accountability if … these agencies are not adequately funded.”

Boston City Councilor John Tobin said that as a city official, one of his biggest responsibilities is to keep people safe, but he has had little support from Beacon Hill.

“We are failing because we do not have partners up in Beacon Hill,” Tobin said. “The Patrick-Murray ticket is the ticket that will help us because they have the experience. [Patrick] was a prosecutor. [Tim Murray] is the mayor of [Worcester]. The states cannot do it by themselves. The cities and towns can’t do it by themselves. We need to be partners [with Beacon Hill] and work together.”