Operation Impact III Community Strategies

Prosecution Strategies

The success of the gun violence prevention program presented above depends on the success of the prosecution. Prosecution strategies will focus on improving the quality of information coming into the criminal justice system that can be used to obtain convictions at trial and/or rapid guilty pleas or pleas to Superior Court Informations (SCI’s). Emphasis will be placed on targeting known offenders by aggressively prosecuting such individuals for all crimes.

The DA’s Office will also expand the range of tools available to target known offenders including civil actions such as the Narcotics Eviction and the Trespass Affidavit Programs and federal prosecution in cases where federal statutes could result in more severe sentences for weapons related charges.

Currently there are two fulltime prosecutors dedicated to IMPACT related prosecutions. These ranks will be increased by a field prosecutor working out of the satellite offices. This prosecutor will be dedicated to the prosecution of gun crimes. Additionally, the community prosecution coordinator will work for the DA’s Office and will be dedicated to coordinating Operation IMPACT III intervention and prevention strategies.

Additionally, efforts will be made to highly publicize all sentences for gun related violations to communicate the concept of the “Consequences of Crime”.

Prosecution strategies for the Albany IMPACT Consortium include the Community Prosecution mentioned in section one of this worksheet, as well as:

  • Operation Speeding Bullet, which is an initiative designed to prevent individuals arrested for gun related crimes from returning to the streets. Under Operation Speeding Bullet, the Albany County District Attorney’s Office will oppose bail for all defendants in gun related cases. Such cases will be streamlined, expediting the transfer of the case to County Court for indictment or SCIs when appropriate.
  • The Albany County District Attorney’s Office will also work with the Judges in Albany City Criminal Court in order to seek a specific judge to gun an d or weapons related cases, as well as a designated Assistant District Attorney, thus forming a proxy “ Gun Court”.
Cross designation of ADA ’s with US Attorney’s Office so as to leverage federal sentences and federal prison placement in the District Attorney’s efforts to curb gun violence.