Welcome to Matt Maciarello's Campaign

Thank You For Your Support!

First and foremost, I am a husband and a father of two boys who is concerned about our County’s growing crime problem. I am running for the Office of the State’s Attorney because I do not like to sit on the sidelines. I want to use my education, experience, leadership ability and vision to make a difference in my community to protect our families. It is my goal to use the Office of the State's Attorney to lead my staff, law enforcement, and this community in a fight against crime that will make Wicomico County one of the safest communities in the great State of Maryland. I refuse to surrender our community to thugs with guns, drug dealers, repeat violent offenders and sex offenders. We must be proactive and strategically target the criminal element that threatens our quality of life.

I intend to adopt a community prosecution model that is being utilized in many jurisdictions around the country and in the State of Maryland. A Community Prosecution model involves a "long term, proactive partnership among the Office of the State's Attorney, law enforcement, the community, and public and private organizations. The power and authority of the prosecutor's office is used to solve problems, improve public safety, and enhance the quality of life of community members."1 The main ingredient is the addition of crime prevention to the prosecutor's mission. I am convinced that we cannot afford to be reactive case processors. We must be proactive crime fighters who are working hard early in the process, collaborating with law enforcement to set case goals and objectives. We must use our scarce resources (law enforcement officer's time, prosecutor's time, court time) to target those offenders that are having the greatest negative impact on the safety and security of our community.

As the County's top prosecutor I intend to make the fight against thugs with guns, repeat violent offenders, drug dealers and gangs, and sexual offenders priority number one. In addition, I intend to embed prosecutors in hot zones in our community so that they can get a "boots on the ground" perspective of the problem and use the intelligence that they gather to target those offenders most responsible for affecting our quality of life. I also have an innovative and common sense plan for combating drugs and drug dealing that is modeled after a program that has achieved great success in urban areas around the country — The High Point Initiative.

I subscribe to the "Broken Windows" theory that holds that even small signs of neighborhood disorder can create an environment that fuels law breaking. By addressing minor offenses such as vandalism, housing code violations, littering, and graffiti we can prevent more serious crimes down the road. As a leader of the law enforcement community, I intend to use any tool that I can find to prevent further law breaking. We will prosecute low level crimes plaguing certain communities. In addition, we will also utilize tools such as nuisance abatement, drug free and prostitute free zones, gun reduction programs, the Exile program, truancy abatement, and graffiti clean-up to improve community safety. Where my prosecutors and I find crime, we will strive to find solutions.

We must not end up like some urban areas in our State where the community resigns itself to accept insecurity, drug dealing, random violence and death. Instead, we must take a stand and I will lead the charge. We have a strong enough community to reverse the trend and make Wicomico County one of the safest counties to live and raise a family in Maryland. It will never happen, however, without proactive and dynamic leadership. I have the energy, experience and vision to lead the fight. If I am so honored to receive your vote in November, I will do everything in my power to improve the safety, security, and the quality of life of all citizens and visitors of Wicomico County.

1NDAA's American Prosecutors Research Institute.

-- By the Authority of Steven G. Woodward, Sr., Treasurer