PITTSBURGH —
“First most importantly, Happy Holidays!
We live in a special place, but in a time when that place, our home, is threatened by a culture of chaos, crime and divisive and wrong-headed political agendas that would work to destroy what we have worked so hard to build together over the years. A region routinely viewed as one of the most livable places in the country. This is a fact.
A political agenda that:
- Foments racial and class division.
- Empowers criminals.
- Ignores the rights of the innocent.
- That makes the safety of the public – and our families – at best – a secondary consideration
- That permits violent conduct by students on school campuses, effectively denying all the kids
who want to learn, their right to public education. - An agenda that advocates a catch and release policy for dangerous offenders.
- That completely undermines a community’s confidence in the ability of the police to protect
them.
Unfortunately, for these types of politicians – their rhetoric has proved to be disastrous across this country – as close as Philadelphia. That’s as close I’ll permit it to get to the people that I have the honor of representing.
Every day, two families in our community are devastated by the loss of a loved one to opioid overdoses. The types of homicides seem to always fly under the radar. Not to us in law enforcement.
Almost daily, someone is shot at with an illegal gun, sometimes ripping apart the fabric of family. We cannot shrug it off as if it’s inevitable that it’s expected accepted…it’s not.
Violence in our community is not acceptable, it’s time to stop talking about it and time to start doing something about it.
It’s time for all law-abiding people and families to again step up and be counted in our fight for what is right and what you believe in. I’m very proud to say that I am responsible for a lot of these discussions.
Over the years, we have learned that those communities that work their elected officials have worked with us. Just like the people that built this stadium and built this city, when you do your job – it works.
When schools educate, when businesses thrive, when victim’s representatives are empowered, when victims of crime know that there is Justice, when families work together, we have a safe community.
When the courts, and district attorney do our jobs, and when the police are properly funded, staffed and permitted to do their job, we have a safer community.
Ladies and gentlemen, I couldn’t ask for a better time or a better place to share with you, your working family and the families of our community that I intend to seek another term as your district attorney.
As a citizen of our community, I believe strongly that you own the criminal justice system. As your district attorney, I have protected our system, and will continue to use that opportunity to make where we live a safer place for you and your family.
Over the next few months, we’ll continue our conversation about what we’ve done over the last 25 years and plans for the future to continue to make where we live someplace special someplace that all of us are proud to call home.
Thank you for allowing me to share my message with you. One last message, season’s greetings from our family to you and yours.
Merry Christmas and God Bless.
###
The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office serves an area of approximately 740 square miles and a population of over 1.2 million people. It employs more than 200 employees, including more than 100 attorneys, detectives, crime scene analysts and support staff. The District Attorney’s Office serves as the Chief Law Enforcement Office of the county and accepts referrals from more than 100 active police departments including the City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, the Allegheny County Police Department and the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Department. For more information, please visit alleghenycountyda.us.
District Attorney Communication Department
Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office