by Naveen Anwer

The Middlesex County Sheriff, who is up for re-election this year, attended Aug. 20 contributors meeting of The Somerville News.

James V. DiPaola said before entering politics, he was a police officer in Malden for 18 years, first as a patrolman, then a detective and finally an undercover narcotics agent.

“I never thought about running for office, but I had a lot of friends who did and I helped campaign for them,” he said.

DiPaola first ran for state representative in 1992, and after a successful door-to-door campaign he won the election. “I had lived in the city all my life, the city was my life. People I coached for little league baseball were old enough to vote now,” said DiPaola. He was re-elected in 1994.

In 1996, DiPaola was elected to finish the unfinished term of the previous sheriff, and in 1998 was elected to a full term, he said.

When he took office, DiPaola said it was a time of government restructuring and many people questions whether the office of county sheriff still made sense. He also had to combat a reputation of corruption and mismanagement that had been built up over time.

As one of the last vestiges of county government, the sheriff set out to make his office relevant by upgrading the inmate facilities under his supervision and reaching out to the local law enforcement for the 54 cities and towns in the county to help them any way he could, he said.

When he arrived in office, DiPaola said there were no requirements to become a deputy, which made it a patronage dumping ground. “You would just make a phone call.” Immediately, he set about to upgrade the professionalism of his workforce. He has established a written exam for correctional officer candidates, expanded officer training, and has enrolled all of his officers for anger management and cultural difference courses.

To encourage a culture of excellence, he has sent his SWAT team to participate in national and international skills competition. Today, the Middlesex County Sheriff’s SWAT team is ranked 32nd in the world. Along with the SWAT team, more than 100 of his deputies deployed for the Democratic National Convention, he said.

By aggressively seeking federal funds for his department, he secured a $1 million grant from the Justice Department for a command center that can not only be used to coordinate multiple law enforcement and public safety agencies as they respond to an emergency, the center is equipped with technology to integrate the different radio bands and frequencies agencies used, he said.

One of the lessons of Sept. 11 attacks is that lives were lost when police and fire personnel could not communicate directly, he said.

Another example of a communication upgrade is his program to inform local law enforcement when inmates with connections to their communities are released from the sheriff’s custody, DiPaola said. “The area law enforcement release transmission program sends e-mails on a daily basis to every participating law enforcement agencies.”

“This makes for great information sharing to create a sync database, so everyone knows what is going on,” said DiPaola.

The main correctional facility under his control is the jail in Billerica. The jail was built in 1929 to house 300 inmates, and has four times that population now, he said.

DiPaola is proud that he was able to convince the legislature to appropriate $1.3 million to renovate the facility, he said.

In addition to improving the physical facility of housing the inmates, DiPaola said he has improved how the inmates are treated, so that they have a shot at returning to society and being productive.

The Substance Abuse Modular Unit is a specialized inmate housing unit encouraging inmates to solve the root causes of their criminal behavior. 76% of inmates admitted to having a substance abuse problem, he said.

The sheriff also tries to insure that returning to the community is a positive experience through the community work program, he said. Inmates are now also eligible for job training from the sheriff’s department.

This program teaches the inmates how to prepare for a successful return to society through structured routine and one-on-one counseling with correctional officers. “This program also helps monitor inmates as they are coming out of jail,” he said.

The first 48 hours are the most crucial hours, because the person is going to want to celebrate. He or she may celebrate differently from most people, so we have to watch to make sure they do not revert back into their old patterns,” said DiPaola.

“We have realized the old way was waiting until someone’s in trouble and then do something about it doesn’t work, so now we have two counseling centers,” he said.

The Community Counseling Centers in Cambridge and Lowell provide the inmates with extra supervision and guidance. “These programs provide two alternatives to going to jail and therefore saving the city and jail thousands of dollars. The alternatives are job development and AA meetings,” he said.

Inmates who have been cleared for participation in the Sheriff’s Work Release Program can volunteer for a tracking program using Global Positioning Systems. “I have been known for being the technology sheriff,” he said.

The GPS software tracks someone with a blue dot on a map and has a replay option, which shows all of his movements for a given period, he said. By calculating time and distance, it is easy to determine if the person walking, running or in a car.

The software can be programmed to set off alarms if the individual enters restricted areas, such as schoolyards or those designated by restraining orders, he said.

The bracelet program is also a money saver, he said. “Instead of having to pay to keep him in jail, the inmate is paying $8 a day for the bracelet.”

The GPS system is an important tool for monitoring level three sex offenders who are being posted on the Internet. “It is difficult to modify someone’s behaviors that are where you have to weigh the risk. Studies over time show that predators’ violent behavior increase. Rehabilitation and changing someone’s strongest desire, to turn off that drive is very difficult,” he said.

The problem of returning inmates to the community is compounded with the special issues surrounding sex offenders. “Trying to get these inmates back into the community safely is a huge concern,” he said.

“I don’t believe in the Scarlet letter, however if the person has a track record, I do believe people have a right to know about level three sex offenders. We need to protect the person we’re releasing as well as the community,” he said.

The sheriff’s modifying behavior program for sex offenders recommends sex offenders to meet three to four times a day for meetings. “Modifying someone’s behavior let alone sexual preferences is very difficult, so this is a very hard task for us to do,” said DiPaola.

Because of he does not have the day-to-day law enforcement responsibilities of local police departments, DiPaola said he is able to focus on specialties, such as domestic violence and gangs, and offer his expertise to the local police as they need it.

The Violence Intervention Program (V.I.P) was the first program in the nation to directly combat domestic abuse. It helps individuals change their habits and thoughts processes the lead to violence. V.I.P involves clinical evaluations, personal counseling and group treatments to help violent offenders deal with stress in a non-violent manner, he said.

“Brave women talked about their experiences during group meetings, and shared with others what had happened to them,” he said.

If he is reelected, DiPaola said he will maintain the course he has set. He believes that his background in law enforcement and in the state legislature make him uniquely qualified to continue to reinvent and improve the sheriff’s office.