BATH -- Steuben County’s long history of battling substance abuse is continuing despite the obstacles presented by changes in the state’s court reforms and a worldwide pandemic.
County District
Attorney Brooks Baker told the county Legislature’s Public Safety and
Corrections Committee recently the state’s bail and discovery reforms are
essentially a “catch and release” policy for drug dealers in New York State.
“Bail reform has pushed people out of jail very rapidly or
kept them out of jail entirely. It limits our ability to gather intelligence
and information and cooperation from sources we traditionally relied on as part
of our investigative process,” Baker said. “The other reality is if people are
not in jail, they don’t need to cooperate – and often don’t want to break those
ties. So they stay in the drug world and stay silent – hampering our ability to
gather intelligence.
County Sheriff Jim Allard said the change in bail reform has
created a new class of substance abuse victims, since repeat offenders are now
released instead of being held pretrial.
In the past, being held on bail meant the low level dealers
who dealt drugs to support their habit could volunteer for treatment and
recovery programs through the jail, he said.
“Now they can avoid the treatment and recovery options we
offered, which leads to increasing amounts of ingestion to meet their addiction
needs which then can lead to overdoses,” Allard said.
Prosecuting alleged dealers has been far more difficult due
to the state’s rules on discovery, which force Baker’s office to turn over
evidence to the defendant within days of the arrest, Baker said.
“People do not want to cooperate if the bad guy is going to
know their name, and with bail reform most likely they’ll be out of jail,
anyway,” Baker said. “Discovery creates a huge safety issue for cooperating
folks and law enforcement.”
His department now applies to county Court for protective
orders so they do not have to turn over names, statements and identifying
information of informants in discovery, he said. But investigators still have
their work cut out convincing witnesses to speak up, he added.
The pandemic also has had an impact on preventing substance
abuse in the county.
While local officials report an increase in drug abuse, and
related crimes, as a direct result of COVID-19, the virus also changed the way
law enforcement interacted with the community, Baker said.
The enforcement of social protocols meant less personal
interaction, less arrests, less intelligence, less informants -- and more
underground sales, he said.
Yet COVID-19 has not stalled local efforts to halt the
spread of narcotics sales by the county Sheriff’s interdiction program, Baker
said.
Announced in July 2018, the sheriff’s department broadened
its interdiction efforts from “fortuitous” traffic violations to one with more
officers, better training and equipment, and links to a multi-county drug
intelligence initiative.
“Armed sometimes with information and always with training
and focus, they have become exactly the critical piece in drug enforcement the
Sheriff predicted when we entered into the original Comprehensive Opioid
Prevention Effort (COPE) plan almost three years ago,” Baker said. “It has even
greater importance now as a more and more valuable source of not only arrests,
but also intelligence.”
Allard said his people also have had challenges due to bail
reform and the pandemic.
“Arrested persons
know they will be released, similar to low-level offenses,” he said.
The sheriff’s department’s resources have been strained by
the pandemic with the equivalent of five full time employees assigned to assist
the county’s Public Health department, according to Allard.
That, in turn, reduces the department’s ability to bring
more resources to investigations and interdiction, Allard said.
Allard also is
concerned the current reforms create the perception that drug use is not
important and inconsequential, especially to youth.
“That perception is not only wrong, it means people can, and
will, die,” Allard said. Baker said his team continues to make headway against
drug sales and use in Steuben. “With the dedication of our local law
enforcement community, and in particular the Steuben County Sheriff’s Office,
we have evolved our process to deal with new hurdles, continued our
effectiveness in striving to keep Steuben County safe and a bad place to deal
drugs,” he said. “Despite the Governor and the majorities in the Assembly and
Senate, we are still effectively addressing drug trafficking in Steuben County.
“It is just more difficult.”
