Lynn Police Chief Kevin Coppinger speaks during a forum for Essex County Sheriff candidates as St. Stephen’s Memorial Episcopal Church on Thursday. (Photo by Bob Roche)
By Leah Dearborn
LYNN — A packed room welcomed some fiery banter between Essex County Sheriff candidates at St. Stephen’s Memorial Episcopal Church on Thursday night.
The Essex County Community Organization (ECCO) and Neighbor to Neighbor (N2N) hosted a forum at the church for candidates to answer questions posed by community leaders.
The participating candidates included Mark Archer and Kevin Leach, both running as unenrolled candidates; Lynn Police Chief Kevin Coppinger, winner of the September Democratic primary, and Republican primary winner Anne Manning-Martin.
Discussions on high-tension issues related to race and transparency punctuated the forum, including comments on perceived lack of reporting of ethnicity statistics in the county jail system.
Coppinger emphasized creating connections between jail and outside community programs to prevent recidivism while Manning-Martin and Leach spoke about the importance of plans that are tailored to the individual inmate.
When asked about diversifying the police force based on race, gender and language, Archer spoke to the difficulties he has experienced as an African American in law enforcement, receiving applause from the audience.
“It’s wrong,” said Archer about the lack of diversity in criminal justice. “It’s wrong and I’m going to change it in a nondiscriminatory way.”
Manning-Martin brought up the importance of data-driven hiring to ensure a balance in staffing based on community demographics. The career state corrections professional focused on statistics and analysis in law enforcement multiple times over the course of the night.
Coppinger said that physical contact can create a safety issue by opening a window for smuggling.
“The problem with physical contact is contraband swaps,” said Coppinger. “It could be as simple as sharing a kiss with a loved one and then drugs get in.”
Other questions concerned how the candidates would improve re-entry programs to prevent recidivism, deal with the privatization of inmate medical services in prisons and handle policies on physical contact between inmates and visitors.
Leach caused a stir in the crowd when he said that in the state of Massachusetts, it is difficult to become incarcerated. He said that inmates should earn physical contact with visitors through good behavior.
Archer rebuffed this statement, saying, “sometimes you just have to look the wrong way” to be incarcerated.
The race to replace retiring Sheriff Frank Cousins will end when voters go to the polls on Nov. 8.
