York County District Attorney Dave Sunday said Monday that the prosecutor’s work to stop the opioid overdose epidemic a decade ago changed his life.
In a speech to the audience at a luncheon at the Pennsylvania Press Club in Harrisburg, Sunday said that while working on the project that became the York County Opioid Collective, he attended hundreds of meetings and met with people who were directly impacted by the opioid epidemic before it hit. on the front pages of newspapers.
“We sat in living rooms with parents who had lost their children, and we really did everything in between to understand what was going on,” Sunday said.
“It has become clear that Pennsylvania has not only an addiction epidemic that is killing people, but also a serious mental health crisis,” Sunday said. He said most crimes in Pennsylvania are directly or indirectly related to addiction, mental illness or a combination thereof.
“So not only do we want to make our community safer, we have to make an impact, but at the same time I believe we have a moral obligation to help people with mental illness get treatment,” Sunday said.
York County has become a leader in changing the approach to mental health and policing, pairing police officers with social workers to respond to mental health crises. The goal, Sunday said, was not to let criminals get away with their crimes, but to ensure the person was unthreatening and could quickly receive the treatment they needed.
“This can be done across Pennsylvania, and as attorney general I will do everything in my power to make it happen,” Sunday said.
Sunday, a Republican serving his second term as district attorney, is running against Democrats former Auditor General Eugene DePasquale to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s open office. Attorney General Michelle Henry, appointed by Gov. Josh Shapiro to finish his term as the commonwealth’s top prosecutor, is not running for re-election.
DePasquale recalls Shapiro in Pennsylvania AG race
In his speech at the Press Club Sunday luncheon, he told the audience about his service in the U.S. Navy, deployed aboard a guided missile frigate to the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Strike and to Central and South America for counter-drug operations.
“There was no one lower in rank than me… so I was wiping down decks and chipping paint and doing that type of work. And honestly, I really needed it and it was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life – joining the military,” Sunday said.
After returning to Pennsylvania, Sunday said he worked his way through college and law school, taking classes during the day and working at a UPS facility at night. His first job as a lawyer, Sunday added, was with the York County District Attorney’s Office, where he spent 15 years, becoming a major-crime prosecutor and trying more than 20 murder cases.
The Office of the Attorney General is Pennsylvania’s top law enforcement agency, with statewide jurisdiction to investigate a range of crimes, from public corruption to child abuse. The office also investigates fraud and enforces consumer protection laws.
When asked by an audience member whether, if Pennsylvania’s law were changed, he would implement a law banning abortion, he repeated his statement with Debate on October 4 with DePasquale that he would not prosecute any woman for having an abortion. But he added that he doesn’t see a scenario in which Pennsylvania voters would allow abortion to become illegal.
“I can tell you very simply right now that there is no world in which I could ever see where something like this could happen. And I can say that as a prosecutor, there is no way to prosecute a woman for abortion,” Sunday said.
A question was raised Sunday about whether local law enforcement agencies should have radar, which is used exclusively by Pennsylvania State Police, to enforce speed limits.
However, he has spoken at length about the legalization of medical marijuana in Pennsylvania and calls to expunge the criminal records of people convicted of cannabis possession.
Sunday noted that applying for a clemency is already a way for people convicted of crimes to restore their records, and his office was one of the first, he said, to take part in the process Project “I’m sorry”.that helps people applying for clemency. Sunday also said that, as a member of the State Sentencing Commission, he was involved in creating guidelines that take into account age and the seriousness of past convictions.
The documentary “Pardon Me” aims to raise awareness of the clemency process in Pennsylvania
Sunday, however, said he would need to review the proposed regulations before he could comment. “Fundamentally, however, I believe that once people are held accountable, it is important to provide them with a situation in which they can lead their lives, be safe and thrive as members of society,” Sunday said.
When asked about the biggest difference between him and DePasquale, Sunday engaged in comparing DePasquale’s lack of prosecutorial experience with his own as a career prosecutor. DePasquale spent most of his career in elected office, first as a state representative and then as auditor general.
“It’s like a tale of two lawyers: one who came through the courthouse to get here, and one who came through Harrisburg in many different places,” Sunday said.
Sunday said the complexity of the attorney general’s office requires an experienced attorney, but nothing is more vital than ensuring the safety of the community.
“Public safety impacts our schools. It affects the business community, it affects our economic environment. This affects how we treat each other. “It impacts the entire world around us, and I think we’re in a place where we need a prosecutor to do this job,” Sunday said.
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