Paul Tucker, Essex County District Attorney, was the guest speaker at the Lynn Rotary Club on April 6, 2023. He shared with the Club his path in becoming the District Attorney. He started in law enforcement as a campus police officer at Salem State University. He soon joined the Salem Police department as a patrol officer. He came up through the ranks as detective; chief of detectives; and finally chief of police in 2009. Along the way he earned a master’s degree in criminal justice as well as a law degree and passing the bar on his first attempt. In 2014 he left the chief’s position and was elected State Representative, which was followed in 2022 by his election to Essex County District Attorney.
He also shared with the Club some anecdotes from his career with the Salem Force; among them was in 1998 when he was involved in a shoot-out and a hostage situation, stemming from a bank robbery. Thankfully that situation ended with a release of the young children held hostage and only the robber being injured with a gunshot to the leg.
Over the course of his career, he came to realize jailing someone who had alcohol or drug addictions was not the best way to rehabilitate the person. He said if the person with those problems could receive mental health assistance, it might save the estimated $5,000 it costs to incarcerate someone at Middleton Jail for a month. He thinks there is a great need for police departments to have units which can respond to situations where mental health issues are involved.
He was also instrumental in the effort to require that police officers be licensed by the state, just as your barber or dog groomer must be licensed.
In closing he said: “Last year in Massachusetts 2,400 young people died from fentanyl use and that’s one of my biggest worries. I think those drug dealers should be incarcerated.”