My first question for Rachael Rollins was this: would you have won the Democrat nomination for DA of Suffolk County if voters had known that you don’t plan to prosecute a whole host of “broken-windows” quality-of-life-affecting crimes?
“That’s a good question,” she said. And my answer would be, no, she wouldn’t have won.
At least half the voters in Suffolk County may have gone crazy, but most of them aren’t suicidal. At least I hope not.
There are some things I actually like about Rollins– most importantly, that she listens to my radio show, or her parents do anyway. You can have a civil conversation with her, which is more than you say about a lot of these Social Justice Warriors now ascendant in the Democrat party.
But…but these proposals on her campaign website are just plain crazy.
After the show, I got an email from a friend of mine who’d heard the interview. He has a lot of experience in the criminal-justice system in Suffolk County. Here are his thoughts on the likely next district attorney:
“She doesn’t know how things work because she’s never been a line ADA. I like how she said probation officers make 100K. A very few do but the average is closer to 60K. She would know that if she’d spent any time in a Suffolk County courthouse but she hasn’t.
“In addition to having little grasp of criminal law, she doesn’t understand the law of unintended consequences. Some people need to be arrested. If she stops prosecuting people for disorderly conduct or resisting arrest, do you know what’s going up?
“Arrests for assault & battery on a police officer (AB/PO). Cops who would have cut someone a break on the street, not charging them with AB/PO when they could have and instead going for a lesser charge like disorderly (conduct), will now be pushed into locking people up for more serious charges.
“How do I know this is going to happen? It’s already happening. People who would have been charged with Poss. of a Class D substance, because sometimes some people just need to get lugged, are now getting rung for more serious charges, now that possession of marijuana is legal.
“Also, the same number of people are getting arrested for shoplifting in Suffolk County as were getting arrested solely for possession of a couple grams of pot before the law changed. Zero. You get arrested for shoplifting when it’s your 50th time doing it, or if there’s some other aggravating circumstance.
“The only good part of her stupid policies is that some of her beloved illegal aliens will get caught up in this. Drunk Central Americans in Bellingham Square who would have been charged with disorderly conduct just to get them off the street for the night will get charged with AB/PO now, and at least a few will get plane tickets home out of it.
“What a mess….”
Isn’t the system dysfunctional enough as it is? When I talked to Rollins Friday night, I brought up the 2017 double murder in Andrew Square – two anesthesiologists (legal immigrants, by the way) had their throats cut during a home invasion by a homeless African who’d robbed two banks in downtown Boston.
This bum should have been in prison for 15-20, but the current Suffolk DA let him plead guilty to “larceny,” so he wouldn’t get deported. Instead, he was allowed to remain in the US, where he did seven months in the House of Correction, then was cut loose to murder.
After the African’s arrest, I remember calling the DA’s office to find out the name of the judge who’d signed off on this travesty of justice. They couldn’t tell me, for days. You know why? Because there are two judges in Suffolk with the same name – Lisa A. Grant. (It was a Deval Patrick screw up – please, don’t get me started on him!)
The point is, if letting this fiend go free were a rare mistake, a one-off, they would have instantly remembered which Judge Grant was responsible. The fact that they couldn’t recall indicates that this kind of insanity — not punishing career criminals because they’re in politically protected classes — is already endemic.
And Rachael Rollins isn’t even the DA yet.
Last April there was a major fentanyl bust in Southie – the staties discovered more than two pounds in the trunk of a rented Toyota. The speeding driver, an American citizen believe it or not, was freed late last month after five months in jail. Case dismissed.
When we called them on it, the DA and the feds started finger pointing at each other, saying they could still press charges against this woman. Yeah, right.
The politicians all claim to be very concerned about the “opioid crisis,” yet someone caught red-handed with two-plus pounds of fentanyl does… five months! In jail, not prison. Obviously, the people calling the shots aren’t serious about this “crisis” or anything else.
And by the way, how about the troopers who made that fentanyl bust? How do you think they feel? They could use a little good ink, instead of the daily perp walk on Northern Avenue, the Troop E embezzler du jour.
Rachael Rollins, you got a lot of ‘splainin’ to do. But you’re not the only one.