‘Just Say No’ made Kevin Hayden agree to a career in criminal justice – The Bay State Banner

Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden, banner photo

Who would have thought that the phrase “Just say no” would inspire Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden to say “yes” to a career in law enforcement?

“When I was in high school, I saw the war on drugs. People were being locked up for minor drug offenses, there were gang wars related to drug activity, and young black men were being shot, going to prison, or both. That inspired me,” said the 64-year-old.

That inspiration led the Newton native to become a criminal defense attorney, assistant district attorney and now serving as Suffolk County District Attorney.

When Hayden was growing up, he didn’t see people who looked like him in positions of such influence. Today, things are different.

“We have the sheriff of Suffolk County [Steve Tompkins]; the District Attorney of Suffolk County, myself; and the Chief of Police of Boston [Michael Cox] who are black. This is unprecedented. The three people most directly connected to law enforcement and the criminal justice system are all black,” he noted.

Seeing people like you in power can ease some people’s fears, but it’s an uphill battle. According to a 2021 Gallup poll, Black Americans have far less trust in police than white Americans. Hayden said that’s one of the main reasons his office is committed to community engagement.

“There’s nothing more important than understanding the communities you serve. The cornerstone of our approach is community engagement. We work to make sure our officers are engaged in the community. That’s why we’re committed to the community engagement team – not just one person who has the title, so to speak, and does the job. … Their job is not only to engage in the community, but to make sure our officers are engaged in the community,” he said.

For Hayden and his team, that means meeting people where they are.

“We participate in community meetings. We work with community partners,” Hayden emphasized.

These relationships built through civic engagement are key to the success of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office’s initiatives, he said.

Many of the initiatives from Hayden’s office focus on education as a form of prevention. Programs cover everything from fraud to online safety for teens to diversion, finding alternatives to prosecution whenever possible to prevent youth from coming into contact with the justice system.

“We have a Stopwatch program, which is an intervention and prevention strategy for young people on the dangers of cell phones,” he said. “We have launched our anti-fraud program, which is aimed at older adults and makes them aware of the dangers of cell phones and fraud. Often when these crimes happen, there is not much we can do, so if we are able to educate people on how to prevent it in the first place, we will be much more effective at curbing these crimes,” he said.

“We’re going to continue to work with the city sheriff’s office and look at returning citizens. Things are very siloed. We need to try to break down some of those silos so we can be more effective there as well,” he added.

The types of crimes he faces and his approach are very different from those in Hayden’s early days as a prosecutor.

“I mean, I see how technology has changed the way cases are tried. There are cases on video now. The crime is literally on video. In my time as a prosecutor, I’ve never had a crime where the actual crime was captured on video. I’ve never seen that,” he said. “The best practices in data collection, evidence management, the way police conduct an investigation from start to finish have changed dramatically for the better. But that leads to more paperwork, more evidence, more photographs, more of everything. So you see all of that being introduced over the course of a case or a trial. That’s discoverable and all of that has to be turned over to the defense attorney in a case. So that’s definitely changed.”

With laws and enforcement constantly changing, Hayden and his office must work to stay up to date.

“We are constantly educating ourselves. It is our duty and responsibility to know the laws that come out. We know every chapter and every verse. That is our job. That is our daily mission,” he said.

Hayden said he wants to familiarize his team with the letter of the law to ensure everyone involved in cases that come through his office are treated fairly.

“There is no one size fits all approach to figuring out what to do with a case. Every case is different,” he said. “You have to educate and train your prosecutors and your team so they know how to do their job without bias and impartially. But … I’ve never seen a case that was the same. There is no one size fits all approach to determining which cases should be prosecuted and which should not. Anyone who tells you otherwise is not telling the truth.”