Allegheny County Democrats to choose between incumbent Stephen Zappala and challenger Matt Dugan
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pennsylvania's primary election is three weeks from Tuesday. Allegheny County Democrats will have the chance to nominate a new district attorney or keep in place a long-term veteran of the office.
Steve Zappala has been Allegheny County's district attorney for 26 years, and he says he's brought the right balance of criminal justice reform and public safety to the office while modernizing it for the 21st century.
"When I first came in, there was no technology, so the first thing, we had to become like the private sector. We had to become efficient in a lot of different ways," Zappala said.
Zappala says he has turned the office around from about 76 part-time lawyers to now a highly professional diverse staff of 130 full-time lawyers trained to prosecute criminals.
"We recruit pretty extensively. The candidates we are getting and ultimately hiring are 55 percent female as lawyers, and they're good. They're very good," Zappala said.
Zappala is especially proud of his record to create special problem-solving courts for those with mental health issues, drug issues, domestic violence and the like with the goal of reducing repeat offenders.
"The district attorney is kind of the catalyst for change in everything," he said.
His challenger Matt Dugan said, "I think I have a unique insight into how our criminal justice system is not serving its residents."
Dugan is the county's chief public defender whose office represents those unable to afford a criminal defense attorney. Dugan says he knows the justice system better than anyone.
"I've worked in Allegheny County's criminal justice system for a little over 16 years," Dugan said. "I've been with the Public Defender's Office that long. I've held every job in that office from pre-trial attorney to trial attorney where I tried dozens of jury trials, representing thousands of clients," Dugan said.
Dugan says he will reform the DA's office to move away from prosecuting low-level non-violent criminals and treating them instead for issues that emanate from mental health, drug abuse and poverty.
"We hear about violent crime every day in the news, right? But the truth is the vast majority of folks that we see in the criminal justice system are low-level non-violent offenders," Dugan said. "And our current system does a really good job of cycling folks through without ever addressing the core issues that bring people into the system in the first place."
Dugan says Zappala's reforms happened years ago and much more is needed now. Zappala responds by saying these special courts are evolving.
"Crimes against seniors, crimes against children -- That's a work in progress all the time," Zappala said.
You can watch part two of Jon Delano's series below: