Tracy Press

The crimes that fill the county's cells will continue until the motivation for lawbreaking — drug addiction — is under control, a local man writes.

EDITOR,

With regard to your recent editorial, “Pay for jail or deal with lawlessness” on May 3, yes, building the jail is a priority. But building a new jail will not solve the problems of lawlessness. If the jail releases 4,456 inmates a year, and the new jail will house another 1,280 inmates, isn’t it just a matter of time before the new jail will be overcrowded, too?

Sheriff Steve Moore said no, but I am not convinced. He told us that some 70 percent of the people in his jail are there for drug-related crimes, and those who are released early (sometimes the same day they are arrested) are those who committed what he referred to as quality-of-life crimes — breaking into our homes, stealing our wallets or purses, smashing our car windows while we are at work or shopping, and so on. They are not the violent criminals who make the evening news; they are the ones who trash our daily lives.

And they are doing it to get money to buy drugs. What is needed, in addition to a new jail, is a nationwide War on Drugs to cut off their supply and eliminate the need to commit a crime to buy drugs. I realize this will require a major effort by citizens and law enforcement. Those making and distributing the drugs are well-financed, well-organized and determined, and they do not have to obey the law to achieve their end.

Law enforcement is hampered in its ability to fight back, in that the law has to be obeyed. But if 70 percent of those in jail are there because of drugs, fighting back is clearly what we must do. And we must do it with passion.

By all means, let’s build the new jail and find the money to operate it, but let’s also realize that building the jail is not the solution to lawlessness. We need to stop the flow of drugs that is fueling the crimes that result in lawlessness.

— Bob Young, Tracy

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written by debi , May 07, 2008

well i feel like saying one thing, these guys who go in for 6 mos and out for 6 mos and back again and again for all there life, thats a waste of money, they enjoy that life and we have to pay for them to take a break off the streets. i say sent them to the CCC or the marines, let them learn a little respect. they do it because we do it. or send them to some boot camp somewhere. the nave, army.....

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written by Silly Me , May 07, 2008

o.k GI Jane

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written by Ian Stewart , May 07, 2008

Interesting assertion, especially since we already have a nationwide "War on Drugs" that has given little in the way of real results (but plenty of press spectacles) for the better part of the past half-century. Here's something else for you to contemplate: Mexican superlabs increased production of methamphetamine, an absolutely horrible drug by any account, in response to DEA coca eradication efforts in South America in the 1970s and 80s. The base ingredient for cocaine was cut off, so they ramped up production of a drug that is cheaper, more addictive, has longer-lasting effects, and is far more debilitating to the user. And I believe San Joaquin County is competing with Fresno County as meth capital of not just the state or country, but the world. So what you're suggesting has already been tried, and it only made things worse. But there's a lot of lucrative government contracts and unionized officers riding on the drug-war bandwagon, so any alternative is off the table for the foreseeable future.