§ 177-A — Declaration of legislative findings and intent

§ 177-a. Declaration of legislative findings and intent. The\nlegislature hereby finds and declares that an emergency of grave\ndimensions exists in narcotics law enforcement in cities having a\npopulation of one million or more. The overall law enforcement effort\nhas not been successful in stemming the distribution of narcotic drugs.\nThe legislature finds that the ineffectiveness of official efforts to\ncontain the narcotics traffic is due in significant part to the\ninability of the overburdened criminal justice system to cope with the\nenormous volume of narcotics cases.\n The legislature further finds that this crisis, which transcends the\ntraditional jurisdictional boundaries of the counties wholly contained\nwithin such cities having a population of one million or more, demands\ncoordinated prosecution, centralized direction and the infusion of\nmassive new resources.\n The legislature declares that without these new directions and\nresources, this crisis will intensify and very shortly overwhelm the\nalready strained criminal justice system.\n Based upon the above findings the legislature hereby declares that an\nemergency narcotics court program is required.\n It is the intent of the legislature that the emergency narcotics\nprogram should be coordinated by the division of criminal justice of the\noffice of planning services in cooperation with the criminal justice\ncoordinating councils of such cities. The program would be implemented\nby the joint efforts of the district attorneys of the counties within\ncities having a population of one million or more, the judiciary, and\nother criminal justice services acting in accordance with a mutually\nagreed upon plan. The legislature contemplates that the program\nauthorized herein shall consist of the establishment of special\nnarcotics parts in the supreme court in cities having a population of\none million or more to hear and determine narcotic cases from within\ncounties wholly contained in a city having a population of one million\nor more, commencing not later than the September nineteen hundred\nseventy-two term and continuing thereafter during the duration of the\nemergency.\n The legislature declares that the resources necessary for these\nspecial narcotics parts of the supreme court can be made available only\nthrough a combination of federal funds from the law enforcement\nassistance administration of the United States department of justice,\nand state and local funds, services and facilities. To this end the\nlegislature declares that in order to utilize presently appropriated\nfederal funds, all necessary agreements shall be entered into forthwith.\n