Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe on Thursday released his platform to strengthen public safety in the Commonwealth. McAuliffe’s plan, “Safer Communities, Safer Families,” includes cracking down on drunk driving, domestic violence, and other threats to Virginians, as well as fiscally responsible measures to support Virginia’s first responders and public safety officials.
“To make Virginia the best place to live and raise a family, we must cut down on crime in our communities and protect Virginians from crimes committed in the home,” said McAuliffe. “Truly strengthening our public safety systems will mean implementing smart policies to target and reduce crime while ensuring that our budget protects public safety funding streams in all communities.”
McAuliffe’s full public safety platform is below:
Safer Communities, Safer Families
A Plan to Strengthen Public Safety in the Commonwealth
Public safety means more than protecting Virginia families – it means building communities where lower crime rates create a better place to do business and raise a family. By cracking down on drunk driving and other threats to our communities, we can improve safety for our families, and by recruiting and retaining the best first responders and prosecutors we can improve safety throughout the Commonwealth.
1. Stepped Up DUI enforcement. People drive drunk because they don’t believe they’ll be caught. By surging state police into targeted areas on randomized nights and earmarking increased funding for DUI patrols, we can increase the chances of catching offenders and decrease the number of drunks behind the wheel.
2. Protecting Virginia Families. As we crack down on crime in our streets, we must get tougher on crimes within Virginia homes. As governor, Terry will:
a. Protect women and men from domestic abuse. Terry will support tougher penalties, increased public awareness, and a lethality assessment program for first responders. These policies can help prevent domestic violence, get victims to safety, and put perpetrators behind bars. He supports the Violence Against Women Act and will work to make sure localities have access to all its tools.
b. Protect seniors from elder abuse by ensuring that scams are responded to immediately and forcefully. Virginia also needs to do more to ensure that our financial institutions are working to ensure seniors aren’t taken advantage of by those entrusted to manage their finances.
3. Make Smart Investments in Prosecutors to Crack Down on Violent Crime. Virginia can save money and resources by keeping our Commonwealth’s Attorneys longer and investing in diversion programs that keep non-violent offenders out of costly prison or jail stays:
a. Virginia should invest in our career prosecutor programs. By beefing up the incentives we give our highly trained Commonwealth’s Attorneys to stay on the job, we retain better, more efficient prosecution of criminal cases.
b. Virginia’s Commonwealth’s Attorney’s offices should also have more support for victim/witness programs. These programs help our CAs get convictions while offering critically important services to those affected by criminal activity.
4. Increased Use of Drug Courts. Virginia should also embrace greater use of drug courts for non-violent drug offenders. These programs have strong track records of success. They save the Commonwealth money and help return citizens to a life of productivity rather than a life of recidivism. Prosecutors can focus on cracking down on violent criminals who threaten our communities.
5. Sustainable Support for Police, Sheriffs and Fire Departments. As governor, Terry will work to ensure that salaries for our public safety employees and state funding for incarceration are sufficient for our officers and organizations to protect citizens and crack down on criminals.
6. Keeping Our Commitment to Fallen Officers. As governor, Terry will do everything he can to support our public safety officers. Selfless public servants who become disabled or make the ultimate sacrifice protecting their community deserve our eternal gratitude. Terry believes firmly that it is the Commonwealth’s duty to ensure that health coverage and death benefits are extended to our wounded public safety officers or their families in the event of their death or injury in the line of duty.
7. Protecting the Retirement of Those Who Protect Us. Terry has always opposed efforts to cut public safety pensions and he continues to oppose such efforts. Terry believes we need to move forward with two goals in mind:
a. Making sure that our public servants can count on the retirement benefits they deserve by holding up Virginia’s end of the bargain without any future changes that would further reduce benefits.
b. Working to make sure that Virginia’s benefits are competitive so we can have the best public safety officers possible.
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