Former federal prosecutor Kenneth Thompson pulled off an upset earlier this month when he defeated a six-term incumbent to become the district attorney of New York City’s largest borough.
In the days leading up to the Sept 10 primary, Thompson was locked in a two-man race against Republican Charles J. Hynes, who’d already secured his place on the ballot in the general election. Thompson won 55 percent of the vote the night of the primary. Rather than continue to campaign until November, Hynes announced he would drop out of the race, leaving Thompson as the last man standing.
The race isn’t quite over for Thompson, however. Despite conceding the race, as a formality, his opponent’s name will still appear on the Nov. 5 ballot. Thompson is still engaged in get-out-the-vote efforts to ensure his supporters also show up on Election Day and cast a vote in his favor.
If that support holds, he’ll push aside more than 100 years over history, marking the first time a challenger defeated a sitting DA in Brooklyn since 1911 and making Thompson the first black district attorney in Brooklyn, a jurisdiction that is nearly 36 percent black.
It was an often-contentious race centered on Hynes’ lengthy record, which included overturned convictions and allegations of prosecutorial misconduct during his tenure. Thompson ran in contrast as a champion for the underdog in the justice system with “experience that matters.”
As a federal prosecutor, Thompson helped secure the conviction of officers in one of the most highly publicized police brutality cases in New York’s history – the 1997 attack on Abner Louima. For the past 10 years, however, Thompson has worked as a private attorney in his own firm and taken on jobs like the reopening of investigations into the death of Emmett Till and, most recently, representing Nafissatou Diallo, the hotel housekeeper who claimed she was sexually assaulted by the head of International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
TheGrio spoke with Ken Thompson to discuss his upbringing in Brooklyn, his position on the NYPD’s controversial Stop and Frisk policy and his plan to promote fairness in the Brooklyn DA’s office.
theGrio: You said along the campaign trail that the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office was in crisis, with a lot of bad decisions being made. Can you talk more about what the legacy of the Brooklyn DA has been? How do you plan to change it?
Ken Thompson: Well, I can’t really go into the legacy. You have to speak to other folks about that. I can tell you the changes that I intend to make. One of the main changes I’m going to make is, I’m going to make sure that the people who work for me know that the fundamental role of the DA is to do justice and we cannot have innocent people going to prison for murders that they didn’t commit. We must make sure that the people of Brooklyn are safe on the streets and safe in their homes but also that the criminal justice system is fundamentally fair towards everyone and that the people who come into the criminal justice system belong in the criminal justice system. And that’s my pledge. That’s my commitment. I am raising a young family with my wife in Brooklyn. My daughter Kennedy is nine. My son Kenny is six. I want to do all I can to make sure that all the neighbors in Brooklyn are safe for our children and for our families and so for me this is a very important, extremely important responsibility that I’ve been given by the people of Brooklyn and I intend to serve them as Brooklyn DA With honor and distinction.
You’ve said before in interviews that you’re for stop-and-frisk if it’s done the right way. Tell me, how does a constitutionally sound and effective stop-and-frisk policy look?
It looks like a stop that is based on reasonable suspicion. The Supreme Court has made it clear that a law enforcement officer can stop someone and question them on the streets in this country if they have reasonable suspicion to believe that the person has committed a crime, is in the process of committing a crime or is about to commit a crime. That’s the standard in order for them to stop someone. In order for them to frisk the person who’s been stopped, according to the Supreme Court, the law enforcement officer must believe that the person is armed and dangerous and poses a threat to their lives. They must have a reasonable and articulable suspicion that the person who was stopped is armed and dangerous. And that suspicion can’t be based on a hunch. It has to be based on something objective such as a bulge in a shirt or the handle of a gun.
If stop-and-frisk is based on those standards, based on reasonable suspicion, I will support it. I want to do all I can to get the guns off the street. I want to support the police. I intend to support the police. I intend to also support the community so when I say reasonable suspicion, that’s what the basis is and we cannot have tens of thousands of young, black, Latino men stopped and frisked on the streets of Brooklyn without reasonable suspicion. What that does is it undermines the very important relationship that we must have between the community and the police. Without that, we’re all in trouble. The NYPD has a saying: If you see something, say something. Well, people in certain parts of Brooklyn feel alienated from the police. If they see something, they’re not going to say something and we have to change that.
On that note, how do you plan on fostering better relations between the NYPD and blacks and Hispanics who feel targeted by the NYPD? How do you re-instill faith in the justice system after the recent wrongful conviction decisions?
Yes. Well, the pattern of wrongful convictions that have been coming out of the Brooklyn DA’s office must come to an end. I intend to put together a really strong conviction integrity unit. I intend to make sure that we investigate these many cases that this retired detective, Louis Costello, worked on. He’s at the heart of a number of these questionable cases. I intend to give the people of Brooklyn confidence in the convictions that come out of the office and I’m going to make sure that my prosecutors are adequately trained from beginning to end…I want to make sure that our prosecutors are clear that our objective is to do justice, not just to get a conviction. I intend to bring training to the prosecutors in the Brooklyn DA’s Office to make sure that everyone understands their role and make sure that the criminal justice system is based on fundamental fairness.
You’ve worked on some high-profile cases. There was the Abner Louima case, representing Nafissatou Diallo in the DSK case and others where you’ve represented marginalized people. How has that informed your vision for the Brooklyn DA’s Office?
I try to fight the good fight. I stand up for what I believe in and the people of Brooklyn are going to have somebody who’s going to be a champion for them. I call it like I see it. Many of the cases I’ve had have been very difficult. I hope to usher in a new era in Brooklyn, an era of fundamental fairness in the criminal justice system.
In your experience with voters along the campaign trail, is the message of “fundamental fairness” what you that what you think they were responding to, what led to your win?
Yes, yes. Look, the bottom line is everyone wants to remain safe, that’s the number-one priority of a prosecutor, to keep people safe, safe on the streets, safe in their homes. But I also believe that it’s very important that the criminal justice system is based on fairness towards everyone regardless of how much money you have, or where you live, or where you come from. I intend to have one standard of justice in Brooklyn for all.
I don’t come from money. In fact I come out of the projects. My mother raised three kids by herself, she struggled to take care of us and fought every day to give us a better life when we were living in a New York City Public Housing projects and became a New York City police officer back in 1973, against great odds, while she was living in the projects by herself raising three young children. She became one of the first women, black or white, to go on patrol in the history of this city and put her life on the line, day after day, for 21 years.
Being raised by a pioneer in law enforcement is something that has given me my values. My mother gave me principles of fairness, of justice and equality as a little boy, and I haven’t left them. I hope to yield to them as the top prosecutor in Brooklyn. That’s what I’m going to bring. I want to be a leader. I want to make sure that everyone is treated equally and everyone is treated fairly.
Becoming the first black Brooklyn DA, you’re joining a pretty small club nationally of black district attorneys. Why is diversity important in that office?
In the State of New York, there are 62 district attorneys; only two are black. There’s one in the Bronx and one up in Albany. Diversity is important because we all have different perspectives. I mean you’re talking to someone who comes out of poverty, who was able to get the best education possible because I had a mother who didn’t give up on me or my brother and sister. And I was raised by a New York City police officer, and I was a federal prosecutor for many years in Brooklyn. I am law enforcement, but I also understand that there are certain parts of the community that feel that they’re targeted, and I need to change that. I need to let them know that the Brooklyn DA’s office and the police are there to protect them.
So, I intend to do all I can to keep people safe, to be a leader for the community, and to be a role model for these young folks coming behind me. I want them to be able to look at my life and say, “Well, Ken Thompson came out of the projects, was raised by a single mother. If he can do this, I can do greater.” When I look at these kids running around the projects, I see them sitting on the Supreme Court tomorrow. I really believe that. They just have to be kept safe. They have to be given a best shot in life, and then their talent will take them as far as it can go.
Follow Donovan X. Ramsey at @iDXR