One would presume that public safety is probably pretty high on the list of things the Virginia Attorney General ought to be familiar with and trusted for.
If you are a person who thinks like that, you’d be right.
According to the OAG [1], some of the things an attorney general must do include:
- Defend criminal convictions on appeal, and defend the state when prisoners sue concerning their incarceration.
- Enforce state laws that protect businesses and consumers when there are violations.
- Conduct or assist criminal investigations and prosecutions in certain limited cases (for example Medicaid fraud, money laundering, theft of state property, environmental crimes, and computer crimes).
- Assist victims of crime who are following criminal cases at the appellate level.
- Provide information to the public on Identity Theft prevention and remediation.
- Administer grants to help reduce crimes involving gangs, drugs and sex predators.
- Administer the Sexually Violent Predator Civil Commitment Program to protect children from the most dangerous predators.
That’s why today’s endorsement of Sen. Ken Cuccinelli by 77 members of the public safety community – Sheriffs and Commonwealth Attorneys – is huge.
“These individuals, all of whom have the trust of their communities, and many of whom are politically independent, are supporting me because they know that as Attorney General I will advance tough strategies for fighting gangs, drugs, and other crime,” said Cuccinelli. “I am humbled by such widespread support among Virginia’s Sheriffs and Commonwealth Attorneys, in addition to the Fraternal Order of Police, which itself represents more than 8000 law enforcement officers and is the largest law enforcement organization in the Commonwealth.”
If public safety is one of the primary reasons for voting for an attorney general, and so many individuals who keep us safe think Cuccinelli is the right person of the job, that’s a significant statement for voters to consider on Nov. 3.
Accordingly, Cuccinelli reiterated some of the points made in the McDonnell/Cuccinelli public safety plan:
- Cracking down on a career drug dealers by proposing tougher mandatory minimum sentences for repeat offenders;
- Requiring a form of intensive lifetime monitoring (such as GPS tracking) of violent sexual predators not eligible for civil commitment but who continue to pose a danger to society;
- Including ALL law enforcement in the capital-eligible victims list;
- Pushing for the statutory fix to the Moore v. Commonwealth case (from April of 2008), which would allow police officers greater flexibility in making an arrest in misdemeanor cases;
- Utilizing the multi-jurisdictional grand jury approach to gang prosecution that the Attorney General’s office has used with exceptional success with the Commonwealth’s Attorneys in the Shenandoah Valley. Ken wants to replicate that model in other parts of VA.
- Proposing that the penalty for a convicted sex offender who fails to register for Virginia’s Sex Offender Registry be elevated to a felony.