Coty Wamp, who won the Republican nomination for Hamilton County district attorney general in the May 3 primary election, spoke to the Chattanooga Times Free Press about her plans for the office, including both her short-term and long-term goals. She will face Democrat John Allen Brooks in the Aug. 4 general election.
Q: Should you be elected, what does the 60- to 90-day plan look like?
A: It's difficult in this race, because whoever wins in August only has about 20 days to prepare for office. The first week I'm elected, I've committed to return a child sex abuse prosecutor position to the Children's Advocacy Center. That person's only dedicated to child abuse prosecutions, specifically child sex abuse, but also major child abuse project prosecutions ... That's going to be restored within that first 30-day period.
I'm going to start putting together the gang and violent crime unit that I've been dedicated to since I started running for office. The purpose of the unit has sort of evolved over time, as I've talked to different members of the community ... A lot of the funding will be what is currently the cold case unit funding, and I think the cold case unit has been extremely valuable, but it just can't be one of our priorities right now. So within the first month, I'm putting that unit together. I want to hire investigators and detectives that have been in law enforcement in Hamilton County, in the city for years, that are ready to tackle some of our gang and violent crime problems.
Q: Will there be a complete re-staffing, under your tenure, should you win?
A: That's a great question. There was a rumor that began circulating last year that I was just going to fire everybody and rehire, and that would never be the case. In fact, it's just not even realistic. I have to be able to keep enough people in that office to create some type of continuity and prosecutions, you can't just overturn the office on Sept. 1.
Q: What is in place right now that you see as the most inefficient process in the legal system here in Hamilton County, and how would you fix it?
A: The biggest problem right now is that we're not prioritizing criminal offenses. We are spending, a year or two arguing about a [Class] E felony case that doesn't have a victim just because ... we want to argue about it, instead of making sure that we're dedicating all of our resources, time and energy to the major cases that are placing this county in danger. We have to reprioritize. What that's going to mean for a period of time is that we have to focus less on the low-level petty offenses, we just have to get them out of the system. Sessions Court is going to be busier, but we're also going to be resolving more cases down there. The Children's Advocacy Center, they have the statistics that show they've not been prosecuted at a high enough level. So a child sex abuse prosecutor, my child sex abuse prosecutor, is going to be located physically at the (Children's Advocacy Center) as a constant resource, the one that's going to prosecute these major cases from beginning to end ...
(READ MORE: Two separate paths led the Wamps toward Hamilton County's highest offices)
Q: As a potential new district attorney, will you continue with programs such as the cold case unit and the request to the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Silverdale Detention Center?
A: The cold case unit, again, it's invaluable. I think that the last number I saw was that there were 31 resolved cases in the last eight years. Twenty of those led to a conviction or an arrest. So I'll start by saying this has been extremely valuable for those families. I can only imagine what that would mean to those families to have that type of resource. But if you're ... thinking about return on investment, which is a term that's normally used in business, but we'd have to think about in government too if we want it to be efficient, think about how many hundreds of thousands of dollars were used for those cases. That's what I'm talking about when I say prioritize, so I would never want to undermine the value of the whole case unit. The only thing is, if ... that money was actually used for the gang or violent crime unit, we're looking at a major return on taxpayer dollars.
On the (Silverdale) front, when I'm elected, I will no longer have anything to do with the sheriff's office, except I'll prosecute the cases that they investigate ... We'll have a great relationship ... But, in terms of current sheriff's office matters, jail issues, I won't have anything to do with that. Except, I'll always offer ... my assistance in that.
We have not talked enough about why there are so many people ... The sheriff doesn't keep people at the jail. The justice system keeps people at the jail, DA's office keeps people (at the) jail. Patrol officers decide to arrest, keep people in the jail, and the sheriff has been very adamant about getting misdemeanors out of jail. That's the role that I can play.
(READ MORE: Report finds Hamilton County district attorney general violated Tennessee nepotism law)
Q: Talking about prosecution, and looking back at some of the comments that you've made that you really support the police, what is your stance on prosecuting members of law enforcement who have violated the law severely?
A: The answer to that is simple, because it doesn't matter if you're a doctor or a lawyer or police officer, man, you're going to be prosecuted the same by my office consistently across the board.
Q: How would the dynamic work between you and your brother Weston Wamp, GOP nominee for county mayor, should you both get elected to office?
A: We'd be brother and sister. But other than that, my position is a state position ... (his) is obviously a county position. Other than the fact that the DA's office for decades has been counting on getting county funds, the mayor doesn't even really have much to do with the budget except that he presents it to the commission at the end of the day ... He'll be my brother, and he'll be a great county mayor. But in terms of our jobs, they don't overlap at all.
Q: Is there anything that you want to say that I didn't ask you?
A: Yeah, one thing I'll say, I think it's really important, especially now that I've made it to the primary ... In criminal justice, everybody in this county, from St. Elmo to Alton Park to Collegedale and out to Soddy-Daisy, we all have the same goal - the goal is just to have a safer community, whether it's the Clergy for Justice, or the NAACP or the sheriff's office, we all want the same thing ... I think that we should all come together as a community around a candidate that is ready for office, ready to have innovative ideas, ready to change things, ready to communicate, ready to bridge those gaps and build relationships instead of being more divisive.
Contact La Shawn Pagán at lpagan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow her on Twitter @LaShawnPagan.