Pubdate: Thu, 25 May 2000
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2000 The New York Times Company
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Author: Alan Feuer

BROOKLYN COURTS STRAINED BY ARRESTS IN DRUG SWEEPS

The caseload in Brooklyn's criminal courts nearly doubled in April
compared with the same month last year largely because of the huge
number of arrests in a sweeping Police Department anti-narcotics plan,
and court officials are expressing fears that the case backlog may get
out of hand.

According to the Office of Court Administration, the criminal courts
in Brooklyn handled 5,694 misdemeanor cases in April 1999. But this
April, just three months after the anti-narcotics plan, known as
Operation Condor, went into effect, the number of misdemeanor cases
had jumped to 10,470, officials said, an increase of almost 84percent.

"Everybody is weary," said Judge William Miller, who oversees the
criminal courts in Brooklyn, which, unlike the borough's Supreme
Court, handle only misdemeanor cases. "I can't say that this hasn't
created conflict, but we try to remain optimistic and manage the
caseload. Still, it's very difficult work."

Operation Condor, which began on Jan. 17, was conceived as an effort
to flush the narcotics trade from drug-ridden neighborhoods by
flooding the streets with undercover officers. The program, which had
resulted in 38,968 arrests through yesterday, was recently broadened
to include a crackdown on quality-of-life offenses and to address the
rash of killings of livery-cab drivers.

The effect of Operation Condor on the Brooklyn criminal courts was
first reported on Monday in The New York Law Journal. The report said
the antidrug program had had its most severe impact in Brooklyn,
noting that misdemeanor caseloads during the same period rose 0.8
percent in Manhattan, 23 percent in the Bronx, 25 percent in Staten
Island and 40 percent in Queens.

Marilyn Mode, a spokeswoman for the Police Department, said that court
officials had been given fair warning that Condor was likely to
increase courtroom traffic.

"We have heard that caseloads have gotten heavier in Brooklyn," she
said. "But we've also heard that it's nothing that they can't handle."

Nevertheless, judges, court officers, prosecutors and defense lawyers
all said that Operation Condor had made their lives more harried by
increasing their work.

Michael F. Vecchione, the first deputy district attorney in Brooklyn,
said it was nearly impossible for his trial lawyers to keep up with
the flood tide of arrests. "Condor has killed us, absolutely killed us
with the backlog," Mr. Vecchione said. "Once the police started making
hundreds and hundreds of arrests, the system backed up."

According to Judge Miller, judges who handled a daily calendar of 75
to 80 court proceedings before Operation Condor was established are
now working on as many as 140 hearings a day. He said that the courts
had added several sessions just to manage the influx of arraignments,
which are defendants' initial appearances before a judge after being
arrested, and that many judges were working until 8 p.m.

The increased caseload has also affected the court officers who escort
defendants from holding cells to courtrooms, Judge Miller said. "What
you have is officers transporting defendants through elevators and
hallways," the judge said. "It's a big operation under normal
circumstance. With Operation Condor, it's only gotten worse."

Court administrators say Operation Condor has only added to the
strain. The total police force, they noted, has soared to a record
40,000 from 26,432 in 1976, while the number of criminal court judges
in the city has remained roughly the same since the mid-1970's.

There has also been a similar shortage of publicly financed lawyers,
said Susan Hendricks, the deputy chief of the criminal division for
the Legal Aid Society. Ms. Hendricks said that Legal Aid lawyers in
Brooklyn were assigned nearly 5,000 new cases from February through
April because of arrests attributed to Operation Condor.

"With Condor the police got millions of dollars for overtime and now
they're asking for more," Ms. Hendricks said. "We didn't get a single
extra penny and it's been a big problem. I don't have any money to
move people around."

"When you talk to individual lawyers in Brooklyn, they tell you that
they're feeling tremendously overworked and pressured," Ms. Hendricks
continued. "Now, when you look at the data, you understand exactly why
that is." 
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