Page 11 - BusinessWest July 21, 2021

munity resources, local and state law enforcement, healthcare institutions, service providers, and community coalitions working toward the com- mon goal of a county-wide approach to addressing drug overdoses, addictions, and preventions;
• Development of the Western Mas- sachusetts Human Trafficking Task Force, a collaboration of local, state, and federal law-enforcement partners working on a new approach to pursu- ing and prosecuting human-trafficking cases based on an understanding that some of those who are traditionally prosecuted for prostitution are victims of force, threat, and coercion;
• The Campus Safety Symposium, which focuses on a multi-disciplinary team approach to the investigation of sexual-assault and domestic-violence complaints and a review and update of applicable laws and the legal issues frequently occurring during these investigations;
• A training event called “Protect, Report and Preserve: Fighting for Elders and Persons with Disabilities” for service providers and care workers to learn best practices for the recogni- tion and reporting of abuse;
• Creation of the District Attorney’s Youth Advisory Board, which consists of local high-school students who
meet on a regular basis with the DA’s office to address issues facing today’s teens and research-effective prevention strategies;
• A training event called “How Can You Not Remember? Understanding
a Victim’s Response to Violence” for members of the law-enforcement com- munity to highlight a trauma-informed approach to interviewing victims of sexual assault;
• The Commercial Sexual Exploita- tion of Children conference, designed for healthcare, mental-health, law- enforcement, and school professionals to provide tools and skills for recog- nizing and accessing the necessary resources in the aid of children sus- pected to be victims of exploitation;
• A #StoptheSwerve public-service- announcement contest for Hampden County high-school students to high- light the dangers of impaired driving; and
• A summer job fair and 3-on-3 bas- ketball tournament that combines fun with a chance to learn about employ- ment opportunities.
Slicing through all those new ini- tiatives, Gulluni said that they are the embodiment of the mindset he took while first campaigning for the office.
“During that campaign, we com- municated to the public that we could build a safer community by engag-
ing with young people, by preventing crime, and by dealing with the core issues that cause crime, namely addic- tion, mental illness, and others, while also continuing to do the core work of the district attorney and law enforce- ment,” he explained, “which is to deter serious crime and to take people who
are violent and repeat offenders off the streets.
“And when I look back on the first six and half years, I really feel that we’ve lived out that very philosophy,” he went on, adding that recent head- lines have provided testimony to the progress his office has made.
Lavigne’s deathbed interview with Massachusetts State Trooper Michael McNally, which was front-page news across the state and beyond, tops that list in most respects, but there have been many other developments, including multiple arrests of mem- bers of the Knox Street Posse, a local street gang in Springfield, the first
strike made by the Strategic Action and Focused Enforcement Team, which operates out of the DA’s office. The sweep resulted in the seizure of 20 firearms, 100,000 bags of heroin, and approximately 2.8 kilograms of cocaine.
And then, there’s EACH, which was first conceived more than four years ago. It first convened in March 2020 and was slowed in its development by the pandemic, but early results are very positive, said Gulluni, noting that the court has caught the attention of both the press and other regions looking to emulate it because of its potential to intervene and help steer young, high-
risk youths to a different path. “We’re intervening and wrapping
these young people with support and services,” he explained. “We have seven young people in the court, and they’ve really begun their turnaround. And we’re dealing with high-risk young people — these are people with records who have committed serious offenses for which they would almost certainly be going to jail.”
As noted, EACH is just one of the initiatives that have not just made Gulluni a finalist for this award, but are changing lives in this region. u
—George O’Brien
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FEATURE
JULY 21, 2021 11
BusinessWest