HOLD CRIMINALS RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS

Most articles concerning drug crime, along with the opinion of the
advocates for the drug dealers, seem to have one common theme: It is
the fault of the police or the judicial system that these
individuals are incarcerated. Once again we see the removal of
personal accountability, we blame everyone except the
person committing the act. Street level drug dealing is the primary
factor in the violence within our community; this is a fact not opinion.

I am a narcotics enforcement officer in Albany and can say I have
never targeted anyone because of their sex, race or ethnic
background, although I have targeted violent criminals with long
criminal histories and watched them released after doing a fraction
of their sentence because of a little known loophole called merit
release, a back-door program that essentially throws out a judge's
sentence and releases felons back into the community to commit further damage.

Misnomer: The district attorney targets high level drug dealers, we
the police build cases and bring them to the district attorney for
prosecution, some are upper level dealers and some are street level
dealers. In my seven-plus years in the narcotics unit, the
district attorney past or present has never brought us a
case. Holding criminals responsible for their actions is the only
way to stem the violence that seems to be the focus of Albany's future.

JOHN MONTE

Albany