Police said Howard's arrest record goes back to when he was 13. In sum, the allegations included assault, robbery and a total of nine for the criminal sale of a controlled substance. Howard also had a record of two arrests for the criminal possession of marijuana, and others for public lewdness, criminal trespass and conspiracy.Easy enough to say after the fact, but did he meet the criteria for these programs as they are actually administered?
Last year, Howard was placed in a drug diversion program meant to spare jail time for drug offenders to ease jail overcrowding. Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said that move was an incredibly bad idea.
"If ever there was a candidate for someone not to be diverted, it's this guy," Bratton said. "He's the poster boy for not being diverted."
A spokesman for the New York state court system says a career criminal accused of killing a police officer was the "perfect candidate" to be freed from jail as part of a diversion program.
Police Commissioner William Bratton said Wednesday that 30-year-old Tyrone Howard was "the poster boy" for candidates who shouldn't qualify for the program.
But state court system spokesman David Bookstaver says Howard qualified because he was charged with selling and possessing drugs and was addicted.
The Washington Times reports:
According to NYPD Chief of Department James O'Neill, Howard was wanted in connection with a gang-related shooting in Manhattan in September but police couldn't find him for arrest -- even though he was on supervised release for two years.
Howard didn't show up for status meetings and would not be home when investigators made repeated efforts to find him there.
An arrest warrant was issued for Howard on Sept. 21.
Howard's long criminal record included two terms in state prison since 2007 on drug-related charges. He also was arrested in connection with a 2009 shooting, but the AP said the disposition of that case was unclear.
The American people have been sold a bill of goods that we have been locking up huge numbers of harmless people who can be released without risk to law-abiding folks. Benign terms like "non-violent offender" are used to describe career criminals who have absolutely no intention of ever going straight and who are quite ready to resort to violence if they think the occasion calls for it.
Persons of sense who really should know better have fallen for this line. Wake up!
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