District Attorney Candidate Would Focus on Outreach, Create Specialized Courts

HYANNIS – The Democratic running for the upcoming open Cape & Islands District Attorney seat said one of his first acts if elected would be to create a full-time position of a Community Engagement officer.

Rob Galibois said the job would consist of engaging with communities across the Cape then reporting back to the DA to help keep the office informed.

“Community outreach is more than dispatching a staff person or prosecutor to a citizen’s police academy or to a school district meeting. It’s getting out there and volunteering inside of your community and getting to know the people,” Galibois said.

The candidate said he thinks better engagement with the community will be a method of crime prevention.

Galibois also said that if elected, he wants to create more progress with specialty court sessions in the area.

The defense attorney said he would work to establish veterans’ courts and mental health courts present in other counties in Massachusetts that currently aren’t available on the Cape.

Galibois said he would continue the recovery court in the Barnstable District Court started by former District Attorney Phil Rollins and continued by O’Keefe. The recovery court provides services to people struggling with addiction.

He would address the discrepancy of the number of African Americans in Barnstable County jails on a pretrial basis.    

“The percentage that’s been reported, I believe was 25% of the jail population is African American. Where in our community, their representation is 3.5 – 4% of the population. That glaring disparity is something I think needs immediate attention,” Galibois said.

When questioned on what prompted his decision to run for district attorney, Galibois said he is able to lead a team of attorneys and cited his 27 years of handling criminal cases, including serving as a lead attorney on 15 homicide cases.

“I can speak with credibility to other attorneys on how to handle a criminal case and I think that puts me in a unique position to be a leader in the District Attorney’s office,” Galibois said.

Click here for the full Sunday Journal interview with Rob Galibois.

By Brian Engles, CapeCod.com NewsCenter

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