St. Lawrence County Had Lowest Felony Drug Conviction Rate In North Country
Print This Page
As alleged drug dealers are brought into the criminal justice system, what eventually happens to them may come as a surprise.
While more than three-quarters of the drug suspects charged in St. Lawrence County last year were convicted, mainly through plea bargains with prosecutors, just under 50 percent ever saw any prison or jail time.
“Our county court is very interested in making sure that people who are addicted to drugs get treatment so they are no longer addicted to drugs. I believe the county court judge is of the firm belief that putting somebody in jail without treating their addiction isn’t going to resolve the problem. So there’s an effort to make sure that treatment is a part of what we do to address the situation,” said St. Lawrence County District Attorney Nicole Duve.
Statistics from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services reveal that St. Lawrence County had the lowest felony drug conviction rate last year compared to Jefferson, Lewis and Franklin Counties.
St. Lawrence County also had the lowest percentage of convicted drug dealers jailed or sent to prison in 2007.
Massena Police Chief Timmy Currier says the majority of drug sweeps in the county like the one this week target street level drug sales involving marijuana, cocaine, ectasy and various pharmaceuticals.
“It takes a great deal of time and effort to put these drug investigations together and to arrest people. We’re seeing the system failing us in many ways. We’re seeing people that aren’t seeing the jail time that they need. We’re seeing people on the streets far to quick. You know in yesterday’s situation there was three people who made bail before we had the paperwork done,” said Currier.
And while illegal drug activity is a catalyst for other crimes, local drug stings by members of the county’s Drug Task Force slows deals between the buyers and sellers for a while.
That said, investigators say there is more to be done.
“We’re making progress. When we target the street level dealer it allows us to move up the chain to the bigger dealers,” Lieutenant Andy Kennedy of the Ogdensburg Police Department.
Narcotics investigators says it’s a good thing that many cases don’t make it to trial and are resolved through plea bargains.
Why?
Because it keeps the identities of drug informants used by police from being revealed.
See John Friot’s report:
Comments
6 Responses to “St. Lawrence County Had Lowest Felony Drug Conviction Rate In North Country”
The 5 Day Forecast
World & National Video
Office For Rent
7News/Fox 28 has office space for rent in our Arcade St. facility.
More information here.
Archives
WWNYTV Links
Yes maybe some of these people need drug treatment programs, but then again there are those who get a slap on the hand. And say they wont do it again, but just smarten their ways of doing drugs. Find another dealer or just do the drug more secretive. Its amazing how many people are on drugs. I think a harder punishment needs to happen right from the get go!! No more slapping them on the hand, and sending them home. Throw them in jail and if they need to seek treatment they are right there. Whats a better treatment than being off the streets where you can buy drugs!!!! Whats this teaching the kids growing up. what If one of those guys that got busted for cocaine addiction and posession had a nephew. And he hears his uncle got a slap on the hand for drugs. Teen pressure is the worste and knowing that huis uncle did some time over what happened, might make the kid rethink his plans…..
Comparisons between counties can be meaningless because of the different ways that Judge Kaye’s Drug Court initiative is set up in each county. Numbers in Jefferson County may reflect felony pleas which are then referred to drug court and reduced if the convicted party graduates from Drug Court. Often stings involve purchases from users who also sell to support their habits. In many cases they have families, husbands, wives and children who would be negatively impacted by their being imprisoned.
No one has come up with a technique to determine the actual number of illegal drug users in a given county. Differences in population concentration are also a factor, as is the age distribution of the population. Drug abuse has historically been highest among people in the 16 to 35 age range, although that may be changing.
The Police forget to mention that their drug investigations involves a snitch. A snitch is someone that gets busted and they make a deal to help police bust other people. Like back in 2006 a person was busted for selling cocaine in the Massena area and then few months down the road 11 other people get busted and the snitch gets nothing. Well just the week that same snitch that got off because he help the police got busted again with 30 pounds of marijuana near Lake george, NY and that person is from the Massena area. Without a snitch over half of the people that get busted would not get busted, so how are the police doing their job. It’s the same in all Law Enforcement, they all use snitches. The media gives the Law Enforcement Officers all the credit, but in fact without the snitches they couldn’t do their job. They say that less then 50% get jail or prison time. Well what good does it do to send them to jail or prison, while they are there other people take their place and when they get out of prison or jail they can’t get a job so they get public assistant and we pay for that. New York State built new prisons and we still have drugs on the streets, so what good did it do to built them and spend Billions to build them and Billions to keep them running. I have never snitched on anyone. If someone is going to get busted for using drugs then they know the risk and should take the punishment or don’t do things illegal. The prescription drugs that people get busted with are drugs doctors prescribe to someone and then they sell them. The drugs that doctors prescribe are doing more harm to our young people then marijuana has ever done. The Police do the same with people that get arrested for stealing, make deals with them to become a snitch and will give them probation if the help them bust people that do drugs. The Law Enforcement go to the County District Attorney and tell that office what they want to do and then use that person as a snitch. Sometimes you never find out who the snitch is unless you go to a jury trial, because the United States Consititution Amendment 6 gives yoiu the right to confront the person accusing you of a crime.
We built a new jail in St Lawrence County so why not lock them up.
its a shame that criminals in st lawrence county can get away with it, what happened to do the crime and do the time, i ralize that it is expensive to keepthese people in the prison system, and it is at the cost of thetax payers they still made achoice to break the law and should not be cut deals, if these people wanted to go to rehab they could do it on their own, the system is a joke as it stands right now ever drug dealer in the country should move to st lawrence county how much eaiser could you make it for them , no matter how you look at this it costs the tax payers for these people to live weather it is in the streets or in prison i for one would like to see them off the streets so my children and grandchildren are no exposed to this type of life
The drug laws have been in need of a serious overhaul for decades. The so-called “Rockefeller Drug Law” was enacted partially in an effort to please Pres. Richard Nixon. It seemed to pay off; Nelson Rockefeller was named Vice-President when Gerald Ford replaced Nixon. In order to accomodate the influx of prisoners who were convicted under these draconian laws, New York State was forced to go on a massive prison-building campaign. But these laws have not improved the situation. Low level dealers go to state prison where they meet contacts from around the state. They also know how they got caught, and will know better next time. There is a limited amount of crime committed by drug users, mostly breakins and embezzling, or similar offenses. These arrests will not change that. These users will simply find other dealers. St. Lawrence County should be applauded for it’s drug enforcement policies. Those who call for prison time for small-time offenses are calling on us to waste our limited taxpayer monies.