For Crying Out Loud!

Several police officers brought it to my attention. The District Attorney was at a loss for words. The question was poised: How can this be happening? Why are they doing this?

There is no question that drugs are the major driving force behind crime. Drug addicts commit the vast majority of home and business burglaries. Drug addicts are a major loss to stores through shoplifting to support daily habits. Drug addicts are a major force behind domestic violence, poverty, traffic and vehicle problems and a drain on our health, education and welfare systems.

I have long advocated for the incarceration of drug addicts, not simply as a form of punishment, but rather to get them into treatment programs that can perhaps curb the problems arising in our society. Rarely do you see drug addicts who are employed. Most live off the welfare, or crime system.

Most police officers know that when a person is picked up for Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle in the 2nd Degree, usually for numerous scofflaws of driving offenses, they immediately get arraigned and usually end up behind bars, even if only for a brief time.

If a driver is stopped with crack cocaine, powdered cocaine, heroin, LSD and a number of other hard drugs and drug paraphernalia, they are often released on a simple appearance ticket for Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the 7th Degree.

No one is arguing the point that these are most likely the unemployed drug addicts committing massive crime numbers and should be arraigned and remanded to jail, hopefully introduced into a drug program. Yet, this rarely occurs. Why? Because the system is geared for the quick and easy. It is quicker to process the drug addict with a small amount of crack cocaine and get him through the system, if all we want to do is get him back on the streets.

On December 24th, Andre M. Cruz, age 24, of 407 East Miller Street in Newark was picked up on a Wayne County Supreme Court warrant after he was indicted by a Wayne County Grand Jury for felony-level selling crack cocaine to an undercover police officer -- not once, but on two separate occasions. Cruz is no saint. He has been in New York State for about a year after compiling an extensive police record down in Florida . In fact, he is still wanted out of Brevard County , Florida on an outstanding warrant. He has also run afoul of the law in New York . By the way, he told police he left his wife and kids behind in Florida . Cruz is unemployed and according to police sources, wears fine clothes and lives with his mother and two brothers. Gee, I wonder where he gets his spending money?

After being arrested on Christmas Eve, he was remanded to jail on No Bail until the day after Christmas. At that time he appeared before County Court Judge John Nesbitt. The County District Attorney 's Office asked for $25,000 cash/$50,000 bond. The Judge decided Cruz must have been a more upstanding citizen, and jailed him on $1,000 cash/$2,000 bond.

The next day, with a public defender (the lawyer you and I pay for) at his side, the Judge did away with any bail and released Cruz on pre-trail release. The requirement put on him at the time was that he stay within his residence and call in to pre-trial for check ups.

Hooray! We saved the County money by releasing an alleged drug dealer so we don't have to pay to keep him incarcerated.

Ooh, that will keep an unemployed drug dealer in place. In no time, Cruz was reportedly back in the saddle and sold fake powdered cocaine to an undercover officer. He was arrested on Friday afternoon, arraigned and remanded to jail, this time on $10,000 cash/$20,000 bond. (see story on page 7)

Don't worry though, our liberal way of treating drug addicts will assure Cruz and similar cohorts will soon be back on the streets. Even if he does get sentenced to some time behind bars, he will start off his automatically reduced sentence with time off for good behavior.

By the way. What transpired in the Cruz case is not a fluke, rather the unfortunate Wayne County norm.