L-R: Rolison, Maloney, Molinaro, Grady
POUGHKEEPSIE – Flanked by Poughkeepsie Mayor Robert Rolison, Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro, and District Attorney William Grady, Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney (D, NY-18), announced on Monday his intent to reintroduce legislation to combat the heroin and opioid epidemic plaguing the Hudson Valley.
He said the Orange County has the highest overdose rates in the entire State of New York.
The bill, as proposed, would initiate a grant program through the Department of Justice, which would assist law enforcement agencies in providing pre-booking diversion programs developed with local drug treatment programs and local prosecutors to address low-level drug crimes. The program would allow law enforcement officers, at their discretion, to redirect low-level offenders engaged in drug activity to community-based services, like the just-opened Dutchess County Stabilization Center, instead of jail and prosecution, said Maloney.
“My bill would simply scale that up. It would provide resources through the Department of Justice assistance programs that would allow communities like Poughkeepsie and counties like Dutchess to have more resources for those types of programs that we know work,” the congressman said.
DA Grady said programs like the new Dutchess initiative are a big help.
“We area able now to hopefully intervene through the proactive approach of the police departments to put individuals who are seriously in need of addiction control in the right hands before they commit a more serious crime,” Grady said.
Mayor Rolison, a 29-year veteran of law enforcement, welcomed the idea. Recalling his days in police work, Rolison said that there were no alternatives when dealing with low-level offenders. “We arrested them, booked them, and then went back to our patrol.” The new Dutchess County Stabilization Center provides an alternative to the criminal justice system for offenders that qualify.
“Being able to divert individuals with addiction into treatment will go towards helping the process of getting them stabilized and preventing them from entering the criminal justice system,” Rolison said.
The mayor said this legislation would direct financial resources to the local communities that know how best to utilize these funds.”
