By Mark David Blum, Esq.

It is time once again to write my annual essay on yet another bloody summer in Syracuse.

In conjunction with other agencies, the City of Syracuse has been running Operation Impact for several years now; over and over again, shutting down violent street gangs and drug distribution networks. Still, the drugs and the blood flow in and around Syracuse in greater and greater amounts. The streets are ‘cooking’ right now and there is much trouble afoot.

One positive outcome of this exercise has been a reduction in gun crime. For several years, gun fire has been the primary weapon of choice. Whether it was the hoodies or sideways shooting, we were all lucky that none of the gangs could shoot straight. Had they a modicum of skill, the death toll in previous summers would have been off the charts.

In response and working with the United States Attorney, local prosecutors have been referring 'gun' crimes to federal court which can yield much longer sentences. Meeting monthly or so, these two agencies go through the list of gun crimes and see which agency can bring about the more severe sentence. They all pat themselves on the back when they get another shooter off the streets.

People are not stupid and business will go on as usual. Criminals learn to adapt and have smartly given up using guns and switched over to blades. Though there is less chance of a ricochet stabbing hitting the wrong person, the person attacked is suffering much more severe injuries.

The ultimate irony of it all is that none of the actions have stemmed the blood or drugs that are drowning a community. (Actually THIS is the ultimate irony: “The Scottish Executive's crackdown on knife crime could lead to a rise in the use of guns, a government adviser has warned. Justice department officials have been told of a possible influx of illegal firearms into the country a result of the high-profile campaign to get knives off the streets.”).

As an attorney who lives and works here in the Upstate New York area and who, over the years, has frequently come into contact with the City of Syracuse over the discussion of violence in the City as it relates to the drug war and heavy handed police activities. I have written extensively on the subject and presented publicly on the subject at a forum at Syracuse University. I have met privately with Common Counselors, former Mayor’s aids, and various attorneys for the City. Over and over and over again, this subject comes up and over and over again, the City keeps asking the same question. Maybe just this one time, they will listen.

Prohibition does not work. Every time you arrest a ‘drug dealer’, though you shut down a drug network, you also create job openings for a new one. Since the employment scene in the drug market is not one regulated by government but instead run by organized crime, whenever your Department “in conjunction with other agencies” goes out and sweeps clean a street, there is always a subsequent and lasting rush of violence and death. Vendettas last forever.

Year after year, it is the same story over and over and over again. I ask you: When is the cycle of violence and addiction to the drug war going to stop? How many more dead and wounded children will it take before someone does something?

Instead of dealing with the real issue, local police focus on what they and their reporter counterparts sell as being the “burgeoning drug epidemic in small-town America.” In reality, the only epidemic that is burgeoning in small town America is the level of violence associated with our current policy toward drugs.

Police and prosecutors focus on the guns or the knives or the brass knuckles. They seek out the wrong person for the neighborhood, the wrong person for the car, or the wrong car for the neighborhood. DWB, over reaction to de minimus infractions, and sheer arrogance have made the streets unsafe as citizens trust police less than the murderer living next door. Instead of attacking the problem, feel good politicians will appear tough on crime by focusing on a THING instead of the ACT. It is the drugs, not the addict; the gun, not the shooter. Same problem, same stupid solution that yields zero results.

That “epidemic of burgeoning violence” is the real cancer killing our society. Like hopeless addicts; police and prosecutors keep engaging in the same behavior, despite knowing how bad and ineffective it is, and how doing so is going to kill. Neither government nor the populace seems to care.

During the upcoming campaign for DA and County Executive, I hope some reporter grows a pair and asks what has been the real impact of the mass arrest and street sweeper policy of the past fifteen years. I don’t mean the number of bodies, weight of drugs, or total cash. What I refer to is what has been the impact on DEMAND or SUPPLY vis a vis the cost in lives and dollars.

Simply put, someone should please explain how it is that despite everything, there is nobody out there today who if they want any particular drug, not only can get it easily, but probably has some already. Seriously, has the aggressive policy of arresting entire generations from a particular neighborhood reduced in any way anybody’s ability to get any drug they want? Has the campaign on guns had any impact on the level of violence or did it just stifle one means of inflicting violence?

Time again for a Full Metal Jacket