The two candidates for Essex County Sheriff — incumbent Sheriff Kevin Coppinger and challenger Virginia Leigh, a Lynn-based social worker, went head-to-head in a candidates’ forum on Zoom Thursday night.
The debate was moderated by Sue Flicop from Wayland’s League of Women Voters, who reminded the candidates not to attack one another personally. Coppinger began with an opening statement, in which he said that he ran for sheriff to make a change in the criminal justice system, and cited the steps he has taken to do so in his almost six years in office.
“We’ve made improvements and staff training and accountability in the treatment of individuals with substance use disorders as well as mental illness. In fact, we have on staff about 30 licensed clinicians as well as the director of clinical services to lead the role for us,” Coppinger, who served as Lynn police chief before becoming sheriff, said. “We brought in over 100 different programs that we can tailor make to the needs of the inmates, for the ultimate goal is, when they leave us and go back to the community, what we call ‘re-entry,’ we want them to succeed at re-entry and not come back and see us, stay with us.”
In Leigh’s opening remarks, she focused on what has become a central tenet of her campaign — the idea that the job of sheriff should not be entirely focused on law enforcement, but on rehabilitation and reentry into society.
“This job is very much a collaboration with law enforcement. But let me be clear, this is not a law enforcement job. The job of the sheriff is as the chief rehabilitation officer, the person who is responsible for the care and treatment, the rehabilitation and ultimately the successful reentry back into the community of people who have made poor choices that have impacted public safety,” Leigh said.
When Flicop asked the candidates what they see as the top responsibilities of the sheriff, Leigh responded that whoever voters select in the Sept. 6 primary should approach the job from a perspective of human service and with the priority of recidivism.
“The population who is serving time at the jail have such complex medical and mental health needs. It is of paramount importance that the person who holds our highest leadership position in this chief rehabilitation department, have the human services experience necessary to be able to evaluate and assess these programs, and also to invest and commit to our budget priorities, as well as our policies for conduct and for services provided that they are absolutely focused on the job of reducing recidivism,” Leigh said.
Coppinger responded that while he supports rehabilitation for low-level offenders, the position of sheriff is a law enforcement position, one that deals with hardened criminals as well.
“We provide a lot of local services, backing up police officers in our communities I mentioned before, but keep in mind the folks that are in our jail. A lot of them are pre-trial, that’s true, but they’re charged with some of the most heinous crimes. Over 400 of our inmates are charged with crimes like murder, assault with intent to murder, rape, rape of a child with force, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. These are people who are career criminals and who have committed some serious act,” Coppinger said.
When asked how he would guard against racially-charged use of force, Coppinger said that excessive use of force for any officer is unacceptable, and that de-escalation is key for reducing instances of excessive force from officers under his jurisdiction.
“Any time there is a use of force done, we have a committee that reviews it by experts in those fields, and review it if there are issues we address. Our officers are highly trained in use of force de-escalation techniques. We teach our officers the best weapon is the ability to use verbal skills, we have crisis intervention training, so the officers are trained so they can talk to the inmates, slow down to take a breath, slow things down to get it to a rational area,” Coppinger said.
In her response, Leigh argued that diversity at every level of the criminal justice system is key when discussing racially-charged use of force.
“I recognize that systemic issues that create these kinds of disparities in the outward community often exist in the community, and the institution like the Sheriff’s Department, and I will do every single thing in my power to make sure that Black and brown communities are both represented in my administration at the highest levels of my executive committee all the way down through staff,” Leigh said. “It is so important that both prisoners feel like when they make a statement or a complaint about a use of force and situation, that they have an independent body with whom to concern their complaint.”
When Flicop asked the candidates how they will implement policies and procedures that encourage minority vendors and contractors to do business with the department, Leigh said that Coppinger’s hiring process was biased toward his donors and that she, if elected, would hire candidates without bias, but would actively search for vendors with cultural expertise.
“One of the most important ways to ensure aggressive recruiting of qualified applicants and responders to RFPs is by ensuring that there is a lack of conflict of interest and that there is an absence of conflict of interest. As sheriff, I promise to review all of the contracts and vendor proposals without bias, but also encouraging and looking for vendors who provide specific expertise in the areas of cross-cultural work,” Leigh said.
Coppinger pushed back on Leigh’s accusation — saying that his hiring process is transparent and legitimate.
“Every donation that I have is legitimate and … all the contracts I have, are awarded through the public bidding process. They are transparent, that public record, they’re there on file, that’s all I’ll say,” he replied.
In her closing statements, Leigh stressed the need for rehabilitation in the prison system and reducing recidivism, or the number of people arrested who go on to commit crimes again after being released.
“This is an unprecedented moment that Essex County has to really define the job of the sheriff as it is defined in the law.… This is a job that cannot be taken lightly,” she said. “Our recidivism has remained stagnant for the vast majority of the last decade, at 47 percent, and only has dropped in the last election cycle. Frankly, it is so necessary that we recognize that recidivism rates in the 40s at the county level are unacceptable. We actually can do something about it this year, by hiring and electing leadership, who is committed … to a culture of rehabilitation, to infusing our correctional system with a culture of accountability, transparency, and rehabilitation,” Leigh said.
In Coppinger’s closing statements, he agreed that rehabilitation and lowering recidivism are necessary components of the sheriff’s job, while also stressing that those values must be balanced with public safety and justice.
“We have to address the needs of the inmates and we do that. We have a variety of programs, we do inmate assessments, we try to get in the best medical services, mental health services, we have over 30 clinicians,” he said. “My background is a police officer and in five and a half years as a sheriff, I’m looking at the bigger picture.… These individuals that are in our jails have been sent here by a judge and or a jury through our court system to serve a trial, to serve a sentence for crimes committed, or they’re being sent to be held while they’re waiting for trial.… These individuals were sent to us because they’re a threat to public safety. And they could recommit their offenses any day of the week while they’re out there. That’s why they’re here.”
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at [email protected].
