Leaders in local government and law enforcement, and general supporters gathered to celebrate Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. “Ray” Tierney’s announcement that he would be seeking re-election this November.
DA Tierney (R-Commack) first took office in 2022, after defeating incumbent Tim Sini (D) in a contentious race.
Honorable Gail Prudenti, former Chief Administrator Judge of the State of New York, and Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine were a couple of the esteemed speakers who spoke before Tierney was given the floor at Suffolk Theater in Riverhead.
“I’ve grown close with him [Tierney],” said Romaine. “He’s done a great job. He’s a great District Attorney. And he will go down as one of our greatest District Attorneys in terms of justice, and fairness, and making sure that criminals pay the price.”
On hand to provide a special introduction of the candidate was none other than Gene and Sue Murray, who lost their son to a drug overdose in 2012, followed by their daughter, Chelsea, succumbing to a similar fate via fentanyl overdose in August of 2022.
Tierney subsequently named the “death by dealer”-based “Chelsea’s Law” in honor of the late Chelsea Murray.
“We met Ray Tierney when he was starting to fight this crisis,” Gene said, noting that he and his wife have since traveled to Albany with the DA and witnessed firsthand the tireless work he puts forth on their behalf.
“His DA’s office is in touch with us all the time, working with us. He cares about the people of this county that he’s trying to put these laws through [for], to save future people and put away criminals.”
Surprised by the Murrays' appearance and grateful for their kind words, Tierney began his 40-minute speech by thanking the Murrays, and other victims’ families. He commends all who demonstrate courage by taking personal tragedy and turning it into action.
“The only thing they ask is they don’t want another family to go through what they went through,” said Tierney.“Incredibly inspiring.”
Tierney touched primarily on his administration’s successes in confronting the opioid epidemic in ways his predecessor did not. However, he admits that 465 overdoses recorded in 2023 is still far too many, and that there is much work to be done.
He also thanked Suffolk County GOP Chairman Jesse Garcia and Conservative Party Chairman Mike Torres for their early confidences, confirming that they taught a political neophyte how to get things done beyond the prosecutor’s post.
“I decided to trust in them and the rest is history,” Tierney said. “Without them, I would not be on this stage.
The youngest of 5, the lone boy amongst four older sisters—two of whom stood by him on stage alongside his wife, Erica, and 2 of his four children, Tierney also thanked his in-laws, nieces and nephews, and late parents. “Although they are not with me physically any longer,” Tierney said, “they are certainly with me spiritually.”
Regarding the remaining everpresent issues, Tierney believes that “from a structural point of view,” the County has accomplished a great many things during his tenure: a homicide bureau has been re-established, and a substantial gang bureau has been formed. A task force approach led to the onslaught of breaks in the long-stalled Gilgo Beach serial killer investigation.
“What was missing was a comprehensive approach and proper leadership, so we provided that,” Tierney said. He vows to continue to honor his promise to distribute the same investigative tenacity and sticktoitiveness within cases—like organized retail theft wiretaps, crackdowns on stolen catalytic converters countywide and so forth—that may not be as high-profile, but are equally instrumental in ridding streets of vile.
Tierney also lauded the County’s creation of a “robust” community outreach program that previously saw no budgetary allocations. “It is important because we need to be accountable,” he said. “We need our communities to understand what we do.”
On the formation of additional special units taking on animal, environmental, and human trafficking-based crimes, Tierney memorably spoke: “When you take office, it’s not like modeling a home. The best way to change something is to have everybody move out, you do the remodel and then you have everybody move back in. You can’t do that with the DA’s office. You’ve got to change on the fly.”
He thanked administrative executive Jed Painter and his assistant district attorneys for their work on cases tackled within the aforementioned special units.
Though most definitely proud of his team, Tierney is the first to admit that every day is a reminder the fight never rests.
“There’s carnage on our streets,” he said, vowing to call for more comprehensive vehicular laws to combat the rampant uptick in reckless driving-based terror on the local front. Tierney believes “driving while drugged” laws need updating, given the recent legalization of marijuana.
“We need to test our ‘driving while drugged’ laws like ‘driving while intoxicated’ [laws]. It doesn’t mean we’re anti-marijuana,” said Tierney. “We’re pro-public safety.”
Tierney concluded by rattling off some “I told you so’s” to all naysayers who balked at his “Shotspotter” program proposals. The cutting-edge technology that tracks every time a gun is fired in a given region concluded that:
* Shooting incidents dropped over 43% from 2023-2024
* Shooting victims dropped 33%
* Individuals killed by gun violence dropped by 67%
In this past year, 26 people were shot in Suffolk County—down from an average of 80, and a 62% decrease from the total number of people shot in 2021.
Moreover, there were 280 incidents wherein a shot was fired in the community when it was without shotspotter access in 2020-21.
In 2024, there were 90 such incidents—a 68% decrease.
“To my earlier critics who said Shotspotter will make you look bad,” Tierney said, explaining that Shotspotter prohibits one from lying about their stats, “if you do your job properly, everyone will look good.”
According to Tierney, the homicide rate fell by 39% this past year as well, providing the lowest rate since the state began tracking said statistics.
The District Attorney also notes that overall violent crime has overwhelmingly dwindled.
“We are the safest big county in the state,” said Tierney,” and one of the safest big counties in the country.”
What’s next? Tierney will not settle for mediocrity; not with the bar already set so high.
“We’re going to continue to fight, we’re going to continue to work to make Suffolk County safe, we’re going to continue to make law enforcement fair, make it accountable, and make it effective, and we’re going to do it not just for the North Shore or the South Shore or the East End or the West End—but for all of Suffolk County.”