Communications and Externals Affairs

Communications and Externals Affairs

The Division of Communications and External Affairs combines the efforts of Community Affairs and the Office of Communications. The mission is to expand the message of the Sheriff’s Department to criminal justice practitioners, the community at large and members of the press. Among the communication efforts that the Department utilizes to this end, is the employee newsletter, The Common Ground, which provides an inside look at the form and function of the organization and is distributed electronically throughout Suffolk County, across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and beyond.

Outreach also includes the Department’s own video podcast, “Real Talk In The Commonwealth, With Suffolk County Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins,” which covers a wide range of topics and issues of interest to internal and external stakeholders. Additionally, the Communications and External Affairs Division provides digital outreach through social media channels that incorporate the platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tik Tok; along with YouTube; and the digital mass-emailing service Constant Contact. The division also creates partnerships with criminal justice agencies, community–based organizations, schools, community health agencies, faith communities and other stakeholders by offering a variety of community-centered outreach programs and initiatives that include:

Choice Officer School Program

This program consists of a cadre of specially trained officers who travel to schools throughout Suffolk County to encourage children to respect themselves and others while preparing for their futures, tackling such themes as violence, the value of schoolwork, bullying and cyber bullying, peer-pressure, personal responsibility, public safety, the consequences of the C.O.R.I. (Criminal Offender Record Information), sexting and more. The program also offers a civics component, which was created in response to cutbacks in funding for school programming that resulted in a diminished number of schools offering such subject matter. Read more…

Summer Enrichment Program

This program, created by Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins, is a paid internship program for motivated high school juniors and seniors, that enables participates to gain insight into the world of law enforcement through weekly presentations by members of law enforcement, roundtable discussions, law enforcement- and criminal justice-related field trips and educational tours, in addition to offering an educational component that teaches leadership skills, civics, financial literacy, and enhanced study skills, which culminates in a capstone project presentation.

Senior Programs

The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department offers two public safety initiatives to senior residents of Suffolk County. The Senior Identification Program and Crime Prevention Tips for Seniors. Read more…

Ident–A–Youth

Nationally, an estimated 800,000 children under the age of 18 are reported missing each year. That’s an average of more than 2,000 children reported missing every day. With any efforts undertaken to identify these missing children, fingerprints play a crucial role. Consequently, as part of its external mission to support public health and safety, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department offers the Ident–A–Youth fingerprinting program to the residents
of Suffolk County. Read more…

Safety Tips for Kids

The Safety Tips for Kids coloring book is a publication of the Sheriff’s Department that features a host of puzzles and games created to help teach children about fire safety, avoiding contact with strangers, internet safety, the importance of wearing a seatbelt, bicycle safety, knowing their home address and telephone number and other important items. These books are given to children at community events as part of the Sheriff’s Department Indent–A–Youth program.

Click here for the Safety Tips for Kids coloring book in PDF format.

Neighborhood Community Meetings

Designated members of the division also attend numerous civic and crime watch meetings to connect with the community at large and share in an exchange of ideas about ways in which the Department can work cooperatively with other groups and organizations to help make the neighborhoods of Suffolk County safer, in addition to speaking about the role, responsibilities and programming of the Department. Custody and non-custody staff members also attend numerous events throughout Boston, Winthrop, Revere, and Chelsea to run informational tables.

Directions for Corrections

The Department also hosts a periodic town hall speaker series, titled “Directions for Corrections,” in which the public is invited to participate in relevant discussions about working to address some of the day’s social and public safety issues. The office has hosted a wide variety of elected officials, community leaders and experts from a vast array of community organizations to take part in forums featuring subject matter of relevance and impact for community stakeholders. Read more…

Sheriff’s Honor Guard

The Department also trains and deploys officers as members of the Sheriff’s Honor Guard to present the Colors of the United States of America and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and represent the county at memorials held nationally, at city and state funerals, special ceremonies, sporting contests, and public events throughout Suffolk County. Read more…

Facility Tours

The Department offers tours of the Suffolk County Jail and Suffolk County House of Correction facilities in an effort to educate the public about the safe, secure and efficient operation of one of Massachusetts’ busiest correctional environments. These tours speak to the daily challenges of caring for more than 1,200 pre-trial and sentenced inmates and provide general information about the facility. The Department hosts legislative tours at the House of Correction as a means of introduction for members of city and state government to the functions of the Department, delivering information to legislators about the important work that is being done within its walls;
and tours are also conducted for members of schools, colleges, clergy and other community organizations around Suffolk County to foster a better atmosphere of understanding and rehabilitation for incarcerated individuals.

Candidate Forums

Under the direction of Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins, the Department initiated a first-of-its-kind voter informational series designed to engage eligible in-custody voters with in-person forums featuring candidates for elected office. Beginning with a forum showcasing the six candidates running for Suffolk County District Attorney in 2018, he has since brought before audiences of men and women incarcerated at the House of Correction panels featuring the two candidates running for United States Senate in 2020, and the slate of candidates vying to become the Mayor of Boston in 2021. The Department has also presided over two additional “firsts,” inviting members of the Boston City Council to hold the first-ever city council hearings inside of a correctional institution in 2015 and again in 2018.

Videos

The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department has developed a variety of in–house videos through the External Affairs Division that go into detail about the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, some of the issues facing corrections, changes being instituted in the women’s programming area, youth programs, the Common Ground Institute, and the weekly Common Ground cable show. Watch videos…