State attorney making good on campaign promises
By JAY STAPLETON
Staff writer
DAYTONA BEACH -- As "a treat," State Attorney R.J. Larizza introduced the men and women working in his office with handshakes, smiles and words of encouragement.
"Did you learn something?" he asked Eric Huszar, a summer intern from Richmond, Va., who stood up from his research of a pending case. "Yes sir," the intern replied.
At the tail end of an hourlong interview focusing on his first 150 days in office, Larizza took a visiting reporter through the maze-like aisles of the third-floor offices at the Justice Center last week, making informal introductions to attorneys, support staffers and interns.
"You work with me, you don't work for me," Larizza said. "It's only one word, but it carries a lot of weight if you really mean it."
Among his goals as top prosecutor for the four-county area that includes Volusia and Flagler, he said, is an openness with the media, police agencies and a collegial vibe among staffers.
"We have a wonderful staff," Larizza said. "They care about their jobs. They do their work in a very noble and very admirable manner."
Six months into the job he took over with the defeat of incumbent John Tanner, Larizza has already started to make good on campaign promises he made to law enforcement. While he has kept most veteran prosecutors on board, and promoted many, he has taken a conscious departure from Tanner's management style.
He's created a liaison program in Flagler, St. Johns and Putnam counties, which puts law enforcement officers and prosecutors together. That program is expected to be expanded to Volusia soon.
He's brought back a career criminal unit to strive for the stiffest possible sentences for repeat offenders.
"Since R.J took office, he has been very amenable to law enforcement," Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood said. "It's been a Glasnost-like approach. The windows have been opened."
Assistant State Attorney Chris Kelly, the spokesman for the office who doubles as an attorney who determines how cases will be handled, said Larizza ran for the office in part because he saw a need for greater communication between prosecutors and law enforcement. "That promise is being fulfilled," Kelly said.
That's not to say arresting officers and prosecutors see criminal cases the same, or that every arrested person will face conviction.
"We're not in lockstep with every single case," Kelly said, referring to the relationships between prosecutors and police. "But the biggest thing is now we're communicating better."
The new administration faces the challenge of more work with less resources. While the circuit has avoided layoffs, furloughs and pay cuts so far, the office of 208 employees is down 34 positions because of budget cuts.
With crime numbers increasing in a tough economy, the office is expanding its volunteer programs.
Larizza's approach to be hands-on and visible has helped keep morale high.
"It takes innovation," Larizza said. "And we're not afraid of doing innovative things."
Those innovations, he said, include "casual Fridays," and lunches with Chief Assistant State Attorney Luis Bustamante.
"We call it Lunch with Luis," Larizza said. "He goes out to lunch with two prosecutors at a time. You can be a supervisor, and still have a personal interaction with your employees."
Larizza has also reached across the aisle to defense lawyers, a group he was a member of in St. Augustine before he was elected.
"Everything seems pretty smooth," said defense lawyer Rob Sanders, who is president of both the Volusia County Bar Association and the local chapter of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
While Sanders said it is "still a little too soon to tell" how the new administration might differ from Tanner's in prosecuting cases, he said he was thankful for Larizza's openness to the defense bar.
Public Defender Jim Purdy said positive morale and increased openness is an advantage to all, because in a congenial working atmosphere attorneys can work to resolve cases without fear of "criticism from their supervisors."
As he led the tour of the office, Larizza paused at the office of felony prosecutor Serena Baldacchino. A picture of actor Erik Estrada, dressed as a police officer from his role on the 1970s and '80s television show "CHiPs," was taped to the wall. Another attorney had put it there, Baldacchino explained.
"Oh, I thought that was your boyfriend," Larizza teased. And there was laughter.
No comments:
Post a Comment