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Date: 8/23/2023
SPRINGFIELD — Sheriff Nick Cocchi’s annual picnic on Aug. 16 drew hundreds of people — as it does every year — as well as a large group of elected officials, candidates in upcoming elections, interested voters and political observers.
Among the races, perhaps the one receiving the most attention was the Springfield mayoral race, with four candidates facing 16-year incumbent Domenic Sarno in the preliminary election.
Sarno and two of his challengers were interviewed on camera by this correspondent for broadcast on Focus Springfield, City Councilor Justin Hurst and state Rep. Orlando Ramos. City Council President Jesse Lederman did not attend the event and Dr. David Ciampi was there for a short time.
Crime prevention was addressed by all of the candidates in the interviews as the events of Aug. 14 were fresh on everyone’s minds.
According to a statement released by the Springfield Police Department, “On Monday, Aug. 14 at 2:40 p.m., Springfield Police Officers responded to 174 Berkshire Ave. for a report of shots fired. Officers arrived on scene and made entry into the first-floor apartment. They immediately observed an adult male, later identified as Victor Nieves, 34, of Springfield, deceased on the floor. Officers also found an adult female, later identified as Kim Fairbanks, 52, of Springfield, deceased, alongside a deceased canine. While conducting the initial search of the home, officers entered a bedroom in the home and located three children, two of whom appeared to be victims of gunshot wounds. All three children were rushed to Baystate Medical Center as officers blocked streets to ensure the ambulance could reach the hospital as soon as possible. The three children are ages 12, 10, and 5.” The 10-year-old girl was shot and ultimately air-lifted to Boston Children’s Hospital, and she died later in the week. The 12-year-old girl was shot and remains at Baystate Medical Center in stable condition. The 5-year-old-boy was determined to be physically unharmed. The three children are siblings.
Murders in the city have reached 22 this year — the first time in a decade the level has been so high.
Sarno said that his first priority would be to decrease the level of violence in the city. He added his administration has funded “millions of dollars” to proactive programs designed to prevent young people from entering criminal activities. “We want to show the next wave of young people there is a better way, a positive way to go, but you have to deal with those bad actors, those bad apples, these repeat violent offenders.”
He cited the recent suppression activities police conducted on Union, High and Temple streets and noted there has been no shots detected by the ShotSpotter technology in that area.
Sarno has been critical of judges who have allowed repeat offenders back on the streets, although in his statements he applauded judges who have kept “bad actors” from coming back to potentially commit more crimes.
He added repeat violent offenders need “to be taken off our streets and our neighborhoods.”
He is waiting for legislation to be approved to allow the confiscation and destruction of dirt bikes ridden illegally in the city.
“Gun violence is an epidemic across the nation,” he said. “We’ve taken a record number of guns off the streets.”
He called the murders on Aug. 14 a “despicable, heinous act.”
“I’m not going to allow criminals to rule our streets,” he emphasized. Sarno has met with his task force including several law enforcement organizations and said that some things they undertake will be public but other strategies would be “clandestine.”
When asked if the city needs more police, Sarno said the city supports and participates in the police academy classes to train new officers. A challenge he noted that in previous years up to 1,200 people take the entry level police exam. “Now you’ll be lucky to get 250,” he said. Sarno said in the past the city has kept up with attrition but it is more difficult to keep up with early retirements.
Sarno said, “I have a proven record. I’ve been battle-tested,” referring to the tornado in 2011, the Halloween Nor’easter of the same year, the downtown gas explosion and the coronavirus pandemic.
Hurst and Ramos, as city councilors, had clashed with Sarno concerning the return and formation of a new police commission.
Hurst spoke about the crime issues as well and charged that Sarno is just now developing a comprehensive plan. Hurst explained the steps needed in the plan include having a full complement of police officers. “Right now, we’re down 70 officers and that certainly impacts the level of crime we have in the city,” he said.
Next, he said that police officers and special units are on “flex shifts.” He added, “the idea that crime stops after midnight is not realistic.” He added there needs to be an officer in every unit dedicated to “gangs, guns and violent crime on the state and federal levels.”
He continued to state that community organizations must be part of the strategy, especially those which address issues at “the ground level, addressing the root causes of crime.” Organizations that address youth, mental health, vocational training and recidivism should receive funding, but they also should be assessed.
“Often times we throw good money after bad money because we are not doing the level of assessment that we need here in the city of Springfield,” he said.
He added as mayor he would have conversations with gang members themselves to broker a “peace treaty” and find solutions for the violence.
“I believe what is happening now is the culmination of 16 years [of Sarno’s administration] and it’s just coming to a head and it’s going to take some time for us to get it back on track but I’m confident that as the next mayor of Springfield we can do that.”
Ramos said, “If you look at the city’s statistics, the city was safer before Domenic Sarno took office in 2006. We were actually averaging less homicides per year prior to him taking office.”
Ramos explained of the increase, “Part of it is because of his reactionary plan, if you could call it a plan. I don’t know if there is a vision there, blaming the judges for crime in the city is not going to make our city any safer. To be honest judges are responsible for preventing crime. They’re responsible for deciding what the penalty should be for a crime.”
He said the mayor’s job is coming up with a plan to make a city safer.
Ramos has a lengthy strategy about crime prevention on his website and spoke of some of its elements. For instance, he wants to bring back community police officers who know a neighborhood and the people who live there. He believes this policy could repair relationships between the police and the community which he called “a major issue over the last few years.”
He believes that better communications would lead to the prevention of crime.
He would like to bring back a program similar to the DARE program in which police officers would be in the city’s schools. “That brought police officers into the schools in a positive way. Nowadays, if you see a police officer in a school, they are probably there to arrest somebody, right? That’s not the first impression, the frequent impression we want to give our children that police officers are only there to arrest people,” Ramos added. He would also establish a “gun court,” in which a designated judge and prosecutor would address crimes involving guns.
All of the candidates address the crime issue on their election webpages. The preliminary election will be Sept. 12 in Springfield with the final election on Nov. 12. The full interviews are on the Focus Springfield YouTube page.