Meet Sheriff Michael G. Bellotti

Michael G. Bellotti, 42, was elected High Sheriff of Norfolk County on Nov. 3, 1998. He was officially sworn in on Jan. 6, 1999. He ran again in November 2004, this time unopposed, and began serving his second six-year term in January 2005. He is the 18th Sheriff of Norfolk County. As Norfolk County’s highest ranking public safety official, Sheriff Bellotti is responsible for the safe, secure and humane custody of nearly 600 inmates in the Norfolk County House of Correction and jail in Dedham, the Dedham Alternative Center for pre-release inmates and the Electronic Incarceration Program in Quincy.

Sheriff Bellotti also operates the Braintree Public Safety Complex, where the he runs many of his community programs for youth and senior citizens. It is also the location for training exercises and the Sheriff’s Youth Leadership Academy and After School Program. The Sheriff’s Civil Process Office is also located at the Braintree site. Sheriff Bellotti has recently launched three major public safety initiatives. Just this year, the Sheriff began listing detailed information about Level 3 sex offenders on his website, www.norfolksheriff.com. Additionally, Norfolk County residents may also register through the website to receive a Personal Email Notification every time a Level 3 sex offender moves into their community.

Sheriff Bellotti is the first in the state, and perhaps the nation, to offer such a service. In 2004, the Sheriff launched Project Lifesaver, a national search and rescue program that now operates in 36 states. Sheriff Bellotti is the statewide coordinator for Massachusetts. Project Lifesaver is a program that dispatches highly trained search and rescue units to find reported missing persons, usually those with Alzheimer’s and other related disorders such as autism and Down syndrome who may wander and become lost. Those in the program wear a device that emits a personalized radio signal that can be picked up by search and rescue teams using mobile tracking equipment.

The third program, which also became fully operational in 2004, is the Sheriff’s Repeat Offender Public Safety Initiative, which classifies every repeat offender as soon as they come into the house of correction. Those offenders are held to a new standard, which requires them to take part in re-entry programming that brings into the process outside agencies such as Probation, Parole, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and local police. Every repeat offender is reported to the community from which he came and is tracked in the community upon release. Structure and accountability are stressed both during and after commitment to the house of correction.

In the summer of 2002, Sheriff Bellotti started the Youth Leadership Academy in Braintree, which continues to grow every year. The academy builds confidence, positive attitudes and social skills in Norfolk County youth, ages 10 to 14. Most of the youth are referred to the academy by local DARE Officers. The Academy operates one of the largest Ropes Courses in New England as part of its adventure-based education curriculum.

The Sheriff also operates a successful After School Program for middle school children and an Enrichment School for students with behavioral challenges. In 2001, Sheriff Bellotti launched a pilot program in Quincy called Managing At-Risk Children (MARCH), which works with middle school students who are vulnerable to the scourge of drugs and crime. The program continues to run today in cooperation with Quincy Schools and the Mayor’s Office. Since being elected, Sheriff Bellotti has created the first-ever Victim Services Unit at the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office.

The unit assists victims with questions and concerns regarding the sentencing and the release of inmates. It also fills a gap in the corrections system by representing the Sheriff’s Office in the community on various victim issues. The unit’s trained professionals reach out to the community through safety training and domestic violence seminars. As part of the unit, Sheriff Bellotti created a program for victims of domestic violence called “Cells For Safety,” which offers emergency 911-only cell phones to victims in Norfolk County.

In the summer of 1999, Sheriff Bellotti opened the Norfolk County Community Corrections Center (NCCCC) in Quincy. The center, which oversees the Electronic Incarceration Program, is a collaborative venture between the Courts, the Probation Department, the Parole Board and the Sheriff’s Office. The center demands the strict probation of offenders through a number of services including alcohol and drug testing, electronic monitoring, substance abuse treatment and life skills programs. The center’s proximity to Norfolk County’s busiest district court has improved communication among local law enforcement agencies.

In the winter of 1999, Sheriff Bellotti launched the TRIAD senior safety program in Norfolk County. Since then, all of Norfolk County’s 28 communities have signed on to TRIAD – a three-way agreement between senior citizens, law enforcement and support service groups working for safety and crime prevention in the elderly community. TRIAD offers services such as the “Are You O.K.?” Telephone Reassurance Program, File of Life emergency medical cards, the Driver Safety Program, Project Lifesaver and telemarketing fraud seminars. TRIAD is run independently in each community by volunteer senior citizens who work closely with the Sheriff’s Office, local police and fire departments, and councils on aging. Before he was elected sheriff, Mr. Bellotti was a three-term State Representative from the First Norfolk District, which serves Quincy and Randolph.

As a state representative, Mr. Bellotti served as Vice Chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources from 1994-96 and was a member of the Elder Caucus. In 1998, Mr. Bellotti received the Public Servant of the Year Award from the Cerebral Palsy Association of Massachusetts. In 1999, Sheriff Bellotti received the “Village Hero” award from the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC). And, in October 2001, he received the statewide Community Service Award from the Massachusetts Council on Aging for his work with senior citizens as Sheriff of Norfolk County.

Prior to entering public service, Sheriff Bellotti was in the private sector, first as a sales and marketing representative and later as a small business owner on the South Shore. Sheriff Bellotti is a graduate of Boston College (B.A.) and Boston College High School. He is a life-long resident of Quincy where he lives with his wife Gayle and their three children, Colleen, Dillon and Daniel.