Somerville authorized to criminally prosecute code violations

An assistant city solicitor in Somerville’s Law Department is now able to criminally prosecute certain code violations through an agreement with the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.

The agreement allows Assistant City Solicitor David Shapiro to act as a special assistant district attorney. Sworn in by Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan on May 31, Shapiro will prosecute violations of the city’s fire prevention, building, sanitary and zoning ordinances when they have escalated to criminal complaints.

Shapiro will manage arraignments and other court dates and, if the case progresses to trial, serve as co-counsel alongside an assistant district attorney. Newton and Cambridge both have similar arrangements with the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.

Goran Smiljic, the city’s inspectional services superintendent, brought the idea to Mayor Joe Curtatone based on what he saw during his time as a building code commissioner, inspector and engineer in the city of Utica, N.Y.

Smiljic said that many New York cities have similar arrangements in place with district attorney offices, and that the result is more efficient and satisfactory conclusions to code violation cases because of the local city solicitor’s first-hand knowledge of each case.

“Our Law Department is involved from the beginning [of a case], from basically the inspections, to writing letters, to issuing tickets,” he said. “If you’re a DA and someone just hands you the file, now you have to go through the whole file, read it and understand the particulars of the case. The more you know about the case itself, the easier it is to present that to the judge.”

Shapiro, hired by the city in 1996, is the Law Department’s point person for code violation cases, working regularly with city inspectors when notifying people of violations that must be remedied, which is one reason he said the arrangement makes sense.

“The other reason has to do with priorities,” he said. “The DA more regularly handles other criminal violations [robberies, assaults, etc.]. This way they can have someone else handle it, a person knowing code enforcement, and it’s going to be continuous.”

In the past year, Somerville has issued approximately 150 code violation notices. In eight of these cases, the city has initiated criminal actions. Most of the criminal actions for code violations have involved absentee landlords or building code cases that present a threat to public safety, Smiljic said.

“We have people taken advantage of, especially minorities and immigrants, where they’re putting so many people in a house,” he said. “We had a case where a guy was digging in the basement to put more people in the basement.”

Smiljic pointed out that people who report alleged violations to the city follow up with the city, not the DA’s office, to learn whether progress has been made in resolving the issue.

“Ultimately we are trying to make sure our constituents are happy with the work we are doing and service we’re providing,” he said.