To the Editor:
Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker shared his path to success last Thursday when he was the guest speaker at the Lynn Rotary Club.
Tucker started in law enforcement as a campus police officer at Salem State University. He soon joined the Salem Police department as a patrol officer, rose up through the ranks as detective; chief of detectives; and finally chief of police in 2009. Along the way, Tucker earned a master’s degree in criminal justice as well as a law degree — passing the bar exam on his first attempt.
In 2014, Tucker left the chief’s position and was elected State Representative, which was followed in 2022 by his election to Essex County District Attorney.
He also shared with the club some antidotes from his career with the Salem force. Among them was the story of his involvement in a shoot-out and a hostage situation, stemming from a bank robbery in 1998. The situation ended with a release of the young children held hostage and only the robber being injured with a gunshot to the leg.
Over the course of his career he came to realize jailing someone who had alcohol or drug addictions was not the best way to rehabilitate the person. He said if the person with those problems could receive mental health assistance, it might save the estimated $5,000 it costs to incarcerate someone at Middleton Jail for a month. He said there was a great need for police departments to have separate units for mental health situations.
Tucker was instrumental in the effort to require that police officers be licensed by the state, just as your barber or dog groomer must be licensed.
“Last year in Massachusetts 2,400 young people died from Fentanyl use and that’s one of my biggest worries. I think those drug dealers should be incarcerated,” Tucker said.
Bill Reilly
