Schneiderman’s Office Has Taken Down 17 Major Drug Trafficking Rings, Given Police Departments Tools To Keep Officers And The Public Safe, And Used Innovative Tactics To Stop Illegal Gun Sales
Schneiderman: Our Approach To Crime Is Both Tough And Smart
NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today addressed a conference of the New York State Association of Police Benevolent Associations, and detailed his record on public safety and cooperation with the law enforcement community. Following are excerpts from his remarks as prepared for delivery:
ON A TOUGH, SMART APPROACH TO CRIME
“What it takes is an approach to crime that is both tough and smart. As the state’s chief law enforcement officer, I understand the challenges you face every day. And it is my job to help my colleagues in law enforcement protect their members and the people we all serve.”
ON A TOUGH AND SMART APPROACH TO ILLEGAL DRUGS
“My office also takes a tough and smart approach when it comes to the crisis of illegal drugs that have flooded our streets and ruined so many lives... Since 2011 we have broken up 17 major drugs rings, recovered $1.3 million from drug dealers, confiscated 79 kilos of cocaine, more than 500 grams of crack and more than 2,500 grams of heroin, and made 345 felony arrests of drug dealers and kingpins statewide.”
ON THE COMMUNITY OVERDOSE PREVENTION (COP) PROGRAM
“We are also giving police officers the ability to save lives when there is an overdose by paying to give naloxone – a proven antidote to heroin overdose – to any police department in the state that wants it. So far, 135 law enforcement agencies around the state have been approved to receive more than 27,000 naloxone kits under my Community Overdose Prevention, or COP, Program. These include 16 of your member departments, including the Nassau County Police Department, the MTA Police, the Suffolk County Police Department and the Lynbrook Police Department.”
ON THE inVEST BULLETPROOF VEST PROGRAM
“Because of cuts in federal funding, many departments can’t afford vests for new recruits or to replace vests for veteran officers.
“That’s just wrong. So we stepped up, and my office created the inVEST Partnership. Through this partnership, we are devoting $3.5 million in forfeiture funds to help law enforcement agencies all over the state buy bulletproof vests for every police officer who needs one. As of yesterday, more than 110 agencies statewide, including more than 10 of the police departments that belong to the New York State Association of PBAs, had applied for inVEST funding.”
ON ILLEGAL GUNS
“We sent undercover investigators into gun shows around the state,add comma and it didn’t matter what story they told the sellers – that their wives had gotten orders of protection against them, that the police had come and taken their guns away – they were still able to buy guns without a background check.”
“We arrested the sellers, but then, instead of going on the attack and grandstanding, we sat down with the operators of six major gun shows and together drew up a set of Attorney General model protocols to close the gun show loophole in New York.”
“Responsible gun owners are not the enemy. The only way to make this country safe from illegal guns is to end the poisonous rhetoric about gun ownership and instead get law enforcement and responsible gun owners working together. That’s being tough and smart, and that’s what we are doing.”
The full speech can be read here.