2020 Candidate Profile: Mimi Rocah For District Attorney

SCARSDALE, NY — There are several contested races in this month's primary, including for the Democratic candidate for Westchester County district attorney. Patch asked candidates in the contested races to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as the primary day draws near.

Mimi Rocah, 49, is challenging the incumbent Westchester County district attorney Anthony Scarpino Jr.

Prior to her 16-1/2 years as a federal prosecutor, Rocah, who lives in Scarsdale, clerked for the Honorable John Gleeson, United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and the Honorable Chester J. Straub, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She also worked as a litigation associate at the law firm Cravath, Swaine and Moore.

Since 2017, Rocah has been Pace University School of Law's Distinguished Fellow in Criminal Justice and a legal analyst for MSNBC and NBC News. She also served as the PTA School Safety Chair at her children’s public elementary school and has organized and led numerous forums in Westchester on public corruption, sexual and domestic violence and online child predators. She has been an active volunteer in Moms Demand Action, working to end gun violence, and My Sister’s Place, an organization that helps victims of domestic violence and human trafficking.

She is married with two children.

Why are you seeking elective office?

Yes, Westchester County District Attorney.

The single most pressing issue facing our community, and what I intend to do about it.

Criminal Justice Reform.

As the nation grapples with the horrific murder of George Floyd, the latest police killing of an unarmed person of color, I support real reforms to address the systemic problems exposed by the killings.

As someone who served as a prosecutor for 16 years, I have had the privilege of working with many good officers who truly believe in the work they do to keep our communities safe. But every time even one officer commits an act of unjustified violence, it tears at the moral fabric of our society, it makes communities of color feel threatened and unprotected, and it harms law enforcement by ratcheting up distrust and anger toward our criminal justice system. There needs to be meaningful change and the change needs to come from within the criminal justice system. I call on all law enforcement partners — police and prosecutors — to start dealing with this problem head-on in an open, honest, and transparent way. To me, the biggest sign of hope since Mr. Floyd’s killing has been the unprecedented number of police and prosecutors around the country who are together speaking out, taking a knee, or marching peacefully with protesters in unity.

The delayed arrest of one of the officers who murdered George Floyd, no action taken against the other officers, and a charging document full of unnecessary prejudicial information about the victim, have made an already volatile situation worse, Rocah said. Acknowledging racial disparities within our criminal justice system and creating real systems to hold police accountable are important steps toward a longer mission of rebuilding community trust.

African Americans make up just 14% of Westchester County, but 59% of those sentenced to prison. Is it any surprise that people of color feel targeted by our criminal justice system instead of protected by it? No one can be above the law, especially those entrusted and empowered to enforce the law with lethal force. We must have systems of oversight that work for everyone, from the police to the communities they serve.

My “Right Side of Justice” Agenda, which was developed after multiple conversations with community members, faith leaders, police officers, criminal justice reform advocates, and elected leaders, includes:

-Independent investigations of all police-involved fatalities and injuries, and independent prosecutions when laws have been broken.

-Zero tolerance for police brutality of any kind, with perpetrators being prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

-Working with local police departments to develop comprehensive policies on the use of force that include training, investigations, prosecutions, data collection, and information sharing.

-Support a county-wide independent oversight structure to identify and track officers with a history of misconduct allegations, to be applied across all local police agencies so that officers credibly accused of misconduct are not re-hired by another department.

-Require all police officers to wear body cameras and promptly release body camera footage to the degree possible.

-Work with police to include better training on de-escalation and alternatives to arrest when appropriate.

-Partner with police departments to reinstate and prioritize community policing programs that involve partnerships with and working with community-based groups.

-Refuse campaign donations from police unions.

-Explore alternative first-responder programs in cases where individuals are experiencing mental health crises that can be better addressed by medical professionals.

-Full transparency of policies, protocols, and agreements regarding officer-involved incidents available for public review, and public reporting on all investigations, prosecutions, and dispositions of misconduct allegations.

-Routine release of list of officers found to have Adverse Credibility determinations.

-Mandatory and regular implicit and explicit bias training for all police officers and ADAs.

-Implementation of victim-driven restorative justice, which prioritizes the needs of victims and holds offenders accountable.

-Establish the county’s first Conviction Integrity Unit that will independently conduct internal audits of evidence and department procedures to reveal mistakes or misconduct that warrant a review of all cases affected.

-Partner with police agencies across the County to establish higher training standards for police.

Police officers are an essential part of our criminal justice system. But we need them to do their job as professionals, to be active partners in de-escalating violence and conflict, and to build trust with the communities they serve. We need law enforcement to be leaders in the solution to the crisis of confidence we currently have.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

Unlike my opponent, I am not a career politician, and to eliminate any conflicts of interest I have pledged not to take any campaign donations from police unions, defense attorneys with cases before the DA's office or elected officials under the DA's jurisdiction.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

A full list of my campaign platforms are on www.MimiRocahforDA.com.

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