Following Cop’s Death, Golden Introduces Bill To Keep Career Criminals Off The Streets

Following the fatal shooting of an NYPD officer last month, Senator Martin Golden has introduced legislation that would prevent repeat criminal offenders from receiving drug treatment instead of jail time, the Daily News reports.

The suspected cop killer, Tyrone Howard, who allegedly gunned down Officer Randolph Holder during a pursuit in East Harlem, reportedly had a long rap sheet. However, a judge allowed him to avoid jail time by entering a drug diversion program.

Golden, a former police officer, told the Daily News he introduced the bill to keep hardened criminals off the street. The law would block anyone with two or more felony convictions from avoiding jail time by entering a drug diversion program.

“The object of this is to get the worst of the worst off the street,” Golden told the newspaper.

The law would also increase accountability in the court system. The district attorney would be requited to sign off on a diversion and the court must “make a finding of fact on the record” about an offender’s potential risk to public safety.

However, the Daily News reports that Golden’s bill has yet to find a sponsor in the Democratic-controlled Assembly.

Queens Democratic Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry, chairman of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus, told the Daily News the diversion programs work for many who have run into trouble with the law and the Legislature should not be rushed into making changes.

“When you do that, you create a more dangerous circumstance,” Aubry reportedly said. “Individuals who need treatment are denied treatment, they stay in the system a long time and they come out worse.”