DRUG CRACKDOWN IS OVERLOADING COURT SYSTEM WITH ARRAIGNMENTS

A citywide antidrug crackdown that was spurred by higher crime figures has
swamped the court system over the last two weekends, bringing a record
number of arraignments to Manhattan courts one night and leading to
complaints that scores of suspects were detained illegally for more than 24
hours.

The jump in arrests stems from Operation Condor, a $20 million antidrug
crackdown announced by the Police Department last month to counter an
increase in the city's homicide rate last year, police officials said. The
initiative, which pays narcotics officers to work overtime to make arrests,
mainly on weekends, has generated 10,000 additional arrests since it
started on Jan. 17.

In one sign of the impact on the courts, a Manhattan Criminal Court judge
arraigned a record 234 defendants in a 10-hour court session Sunday night,
triple the usual number and nearly double the previous high for a night
court. In addition, many of the people arrested last weekend were held
longer than legally allowable.

In two formal complaints, the Legal Aid Society said that 226 prisoners in
Manhattan on Feb. 7 had been held for more than 24 hours, including a
17-year-old held for more than 50 hours on a trespass charge. On Monday,
122 prisoners had been held for more than 24 hours in Brooklyn, according
to the society.

Court officials said they were addressing the problem and would be adding
judges, court-appointed defense lawyers and court workers this weekend.
"We're scrambling but we're dealing with it," said Judge John P. Walsh, who
supervises the city's arraignment courts.

In a 1991 decision, the State Court of Appeals ruled that anyone arrested
in New York who was not arraigned before a judge within 24 hours became
eligible for release. That ruling stemmed from years of the court system's
being so backed up that it was routine for defendants to be held for days
without seeing a judge.

Tony Elitcher, the Legal Aid lawyer who filed the complaint in Manhattan,
said that the backlog was the worst in the city in at least a year. He said
a 1998 Police Department policy of restricting the issuing of tickets to
people accused of minor crimes was flooding the system. Under the new
procedure, low level offenders are jailed overnight, instead of being taken
to a precinct house, checked for outstanding arrest warrants and issued a
desk appearance ticket that requires them to appear later in court.

Mr. Elitcher said that along with the 17-year-old charged with trespassing,
people accused of disorderly conduct, marijuana possession and resisting
arrest had spent over 50 hours in jail by Feb. 6 and 7. "Why should you be
in jail for 50 hours for trespassing?" he asked.

Marilyn Mode, the Police Department's chief spokeswoman, said the
department was not responsible for the delays in arraignments. Court
officials were warned in advance of the new initiative, she said, which is
already driving down crime since its Jan. 17 start, she added.

"In that time period, we have seen a reduction of 15.8 percent in crime,"
she said. "It has certainly had an impact."

Court administrators said the current strain on the system reflected a
long-running problem. While the city's police force has soared to a record
40,000 officers, the number of criminal court judges in the city has
remained roughly the same since the mid-1970's.

Prosecutors and court administrators say the city needs 23 more Criminal
Court judges, but getting the State Legislature to create them is
politically troublesome. Republicans and Democrats in Albany guard
judgeships as valuable political appointments, and they have been unable to
reach a compromise on increasing the number of judges around the state.

As a result, arraignment courts have emerged as a choke point in the city's
criminal justice system. With the number of misdemeanor cases soaring by
more than 70 percent under the mayor's quality of life crackdown, judges
must quickly arraign as many cases as possible to prevent the system from
backing up.

The 234 cases handled by Judge Harold Ross of Criminal Court in 10 hours
Sunday night would have been considered impossible a decade ago, when
handling 50 cases in an eight-hour arraignment shift was viewed as speedy.
Computerization and streamlined procedures have resulted in 75 to 100 cases
per shift becoming the norm. But the 234 figure is still astounding,
according to court administrators.

Defense lawyers dismissed Operation Condor, which they have dubbed "the
Buzzard," calling it excessive. Ms. Mode, citing the recent drop in crime,
said the crackdown would continue indefinitely.