23536
Bluelight Crew
Brindisi seeks laws to battle barricades at drug houses
http://www.uticaod.com/news/x94505668/Brindisi-seeks-laws-to-battle-barricades-at-drug-houses
It usually takes police five to 10 seconds to break down the door of a drug house.
But when the drug dealer blocks the door with a homemade barricade, a lot can happen in the extra three to four minutes it takes to overcome such an obstacle.
The drug dealer can escape or flush drugs down the toilet so there is very little evidence left to make an arrest once police get inside.
And worst of all, those few extra minutes might be enough time for a dealer to arm himself and open fire, officials said.
Over the past 10 years, police in Utica and Rome have been encountering dealers who try to secure their drug houses by propping up or bolting wood boards against the doors so they can’t be opened from the outside. So, what otherwise should take five to 10 seconds for police to break in often can last much longer and eliminate the element of surprise.
Authorities call these homemade barricades “crime-stopping insurance,” and it’s something that state Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi is trying to make punishable through new legislation.
On Thursday, Brindisi, D-Utica, joined Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara, Utica and Rome police officials and Utica Mayor Robert Palmieri in laying out his proposed three-point plan:
* For the first time, make criminal fortification of a drug house or other location engaged in illegal activities a felony crime, carrying a punishment of five to 15 years in prison.
* Give district attorneys the authority to intervene in civil proceedings to evict tenants who are using the property for illegal activity, especially when the landlords are either turning a blind eye to the crimes or feeling powerless to confront these tenants.
* Beginning Thursday, the Utica and Rome police departments have agreed to start documenting instances of these homemade fortifications that can be used as evidence in investigations and to make a strong case for creating this new law.
“They deserve strong state laws that back them up,” Brindisi said of the officers who put their lives on the line, only to see drug dealers get off with little jail time because they were able to destroy evidence.
If the proposed legislation – which is co-sponsored in the state Senate – becomes law, it would allow dealers to be prosecuted for taking steps to obstruct police who are executing a no-knock search warrant. In most of these cases, the investigations to obtain search warrants already would have detected signs of illegal activity.
cont. http://www.uticaod.com/news/x94505668/Brindisi-seeks-laws-to-battle-barricades-at-drug-houses
http://www.uticaod.com/news/x94505668/Brindisi-seeks-laws-to-battle-barricades-at-drug-houses
It usually takes police five to 10 seconds to break down the door of a drug house.
But when the drug dealer blocks the door with a homemade barricade, a lot can happen in the extra three to four minutes it takes to overcome such an obstacle.
The drug dealer can escape or flush drugs down the toilet so there is very little evidence left to make an arrest once police get inside.
And worst of all, those few extra minutes might be enough time for a dealer to arm himself and open fire, officials said.
Over the past 10 years, police in Utica and Rome have been encountering dealers who try to secure their drug houses by propping up or bolting wood boards against the doors so they can’t be opened from the outside. So, what otherwise should take five to 10 seconds for police to break in often can last much longer and eliminate the element of surprise.
Authorities call these homemade barricades “crime-stopping insurance,” and it’s something that state Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi is trying to make punishable through new legislation.
On Thursday, Brindisi, D-Utica, joined Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara, Utica and Rome police officials and Utica Mayor Robert Palmieri in laying out his proposed three-point plan:
* For the first time, make criminal fortification of a drug house or other location engaged in illegal activities a felony crime, carrying a punishment of five to 15 years in prison.
* Give district attorneys the authority to intervene in civil proceedings to evict tenants who are using the property for illegal activity, especially when the landlords are either turning a blind eye to the crimes or feeling powerless to confront these tenants.
* Beginning Thursday, the Utica and Rome police departments have agreed to start documenting instances of these homemade fortifications that can be used as evidence in investigations and to make a strong case for creating this new law.
“They deserve strong state laws that back them up,” Brindisi said of the officers who put their lives on the line, only to see drug dealers get off with little jail time because they were able to destroy evidence.
If the proposed legislation – which is co-sponsored in the state Senate – becomes law, it would allow dealers to be prosecuted for taking steps to obstruct police who are executing a no-knock search warrant. In most of these cases, the investigations to obtain search warrants already would have detected signs of illegal activity.
cont. http://www.uticaod.com/news/x94505668/Brindisi-seeks-laws-to-battle-barricades-at-drug-houses
