Opinion: Tom Hodgson is the right person to serve We, the People of Bristol County

Oct 4, 2022

To the editor:

Sheriff Thomas Hodgson is a man of honor, character, loyalty, integrity, compassion, sincerity, and faith.

I could not be prouder to work for him as his Administrative and Legislative Assistant at the Bristol County Sheriff's Office. I know not the sheriff's opponent on Election Day, but I cannot assume anything less than that he is a gentleman in his own right with the best of intentions.

After all, partisan politics need not descend into nasty attacks, accusations, and trickery. I assume all the best of the opposing candidate. However, having worked alongside Sheriff Hodgson for over 12 years, and known him far longer, I am supremely confident and absolutely assured that Tom Hodgson is the right person to serve We, the People of Bristol County as our sheriff. 

Sheriff Hodgson truly and deeply cares for and about his staff, the youth in our county, the safety of our neighborhoods, and the inmates under his care and custody. I know as I see it daily and have experienced it personally. 

Many people say many things about Sheriff Hodgson in the media, much of which is sensationalism and propaganda from those who have never bothered to converse with the Sheriff or visit the Bristol County Sheriff's Office. They spin facts to suit their agenda and manufacture controversy to their own ends. Perhaps a few even believe the error they spread, but most of it is likely due to their invincible ignorance as they simply refuse to believe nor rationally understand that Sheriff Hodgson is a good man who has the best of intentions and does wonderful things for Bristol County.

Detractors often demagogue the Sheriff on matters pertaining to illegal immigration. It is true that Sheriff Hodgson is firm, yet very fair, regarding such matters and he views every state as a "border state." Yet it is both horribly wrong and terribly insulting to demonize him as allegedly anti-immigrant. Nothing could be further from the truth! 

Sheriff Hodgson has long been a vigorous supporter of immigrant peoples and for serious comprehensive immigration reform. Sheriff Hodgson has a tremendous rapport with especially the Portuguese community. Furthermore, he is the child of a legal immigrant as his beloved late father hailed from England. 

The many and various inmate programs to build up and to better the people incarcerated in the jail attests to the sheriff's forward thinking. 

Sheriff Hodgson's often stated goal is to add the tools necessary to an inmate's life skills toolbox so that they may be personally improved and return productively to society. Then there are the inmate work programs which not only provide a material benefit to local government agencies and not for profit organizations but help to instill pride and greater self-esteem in the inmate workers. 

Those programs are also reinforced by Sheriff Hodgson's community service efforts for such things as senior citizen safety, youth outreach, and our K-9 program that in addition to the traditional law enforcement uses of the dogs also includes Covid-19 detection and comfort measures. 

Perhaps the largest program, having recently been granted $700,000 in federal funds, is the sheriff's True Course program so that at-risk youth may be reached early in hopes of successfully reaching them before ever risking becoming an inmate. 

With staff, the Sheriff has an open-door policy, but it is not only the workday or strictly professional issues that matter to Sheriff Hodgson. He often writes about the "Bristol County Sheriff's Office Family." There is no happier day than Employee Week around the BCSO, but the Sheriff rises to the occasion and stands tall in moments of tragedy. Personally, there is no one who has been more genuinely caring and attentive than the Sheriff when a couple of years ago my mother was hospitalized, be it from falling and breaking her neck to needing surgery for other matters. Indeed, it was Sheriff Hodgson who went with me to St. Luke's Hospital, and stayed with me, when my father was dying from pancreatic cancer. Likewise, I have had no greater supporter in my personal crusade since in support of pancreatic cancer patients and their families than Sheriff Hodgson.

Cancer advocacy is a non-partisan endeavor and truly, Sheriff Tom Hodgson acts the same in the carrying out of his duties as Sheriff of Bristol County. Yes, Sheriff Hodgson is a proud Republican, yet it may surprise some of his critics as he goes about his days without a care or concern for partisanship or ideology. 

The Bristol County Sheriff's Office is not Blue, but it is certainly not Red. Rather, the BCSO family is Purple as it is a beautiful mixture of Democrats, Republicans, and Unenrolled independent minded staff members who unite under Sheriff Hodgson for a common purpose and cause and that is to serve the residents of Bristol County, Massachusetts. 

Some may discount my words as merely those of an employee, and that is understandable on a base level. 

However, I have worked alongside Sheriff Tom Hodgson for well over a decade. I have seen him in action both in the lows and the highs of Corrections. I have been with him during the ups and the downs of personal lives. I know Tom Hodgson candidly and intimately as friends. 

I can, will, and do attest without the slightest hesitation that Tom Hodgson is a good man and a tireless public servant who has earned another term as our Sheriff of Bristol County.

Brock N. Cordeiro,

Dartmouth