OFFICERS

President Cocchi's Welcome

​

I want to welcome you to the official website of the Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association (MSA) and thank you for taking the time to visit.

​

Established thirty-five years ago, the MSA is comprised of the fourteen county sheriffs in Massachusetts, and I am proud to serve as the current president.

​

Together, as a collective, we work to address the issues that have a direct impact on the criminal justice system, and which may affect the operation of the various sheriffs' offices across the Commonwealth. These areas of focus include those related to law enforcement and criminal justice reform, the care, custody and transportation of the justice-involved population, substance use disorder treatment, judicial services, recidivism, officer training and wellness, re-entry programming, and legislative advocacy.

​

Massachusetts is already decades ahead of much of the country when it comes to focusing on true rehabilitation, offering post-release opportunity and treating substance use disorder with the justice-involved people who come into our care. But being national leaders in the field doesn’t come without hard work and dedication to innovation and doing the right thing.

​

I started my career as a correctional officer with the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office back in 1993. And over the decades of service before being elected to serve as Sheriff in 2016, I worked in virtually every area of the department, learning what works, what makes sense and how to best serve the justice-involved population, their families and the public.

 

In Hampden County, we’ve evolved the role of sheriff from focusing solely on care in custody to post-release assistance, community engagement and prevention before incarceration. We’ve seen a great return on that investment and we’ve demonstrated that a Sheriff’s Office can and should be a community partner and not just an agency that manages a correctional institution.​

 

As the sitting MSA President, I am eager to represent my colleagues in their respective offices across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

​

In the year ahead, I look forward to the ongoing collaboration of our collective forces within the Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association as we continue work to focus on the public health and safety of our respective counties, the State of Massachusetts and beyond.

​

Sincerely,
Sheriff Nick Cocchi
Hampden County Sheriff’s Office