Debt Free

Just one moment for a sad, diversionary rant, that has little to do with your finances. Yesterday morning, a Seattle police officer, Elizabeth Mary Nowak, 30, was killed. No, she wasn't saving a child from a fire, or stopping a bank robbery in progress. She was killed when a 20-time convicted felon, driving a stolen car, T-boned her while running through an intersection at 2:00am, with his lights off. It was probably hard to avoid him, since he was traveling around 80mph in a 30mph zone. She was off duty, heading to the precinct to begin her shift.

It was a sad anniversary of sorts, being 3 months to the day since a very similar scenario took the life of another Seattle cop, Joselito Barber, 26. The officer was also hit in an intersection by a career criminal. He was on duty, coincidentally at the same precinct as Elizabeth Nowak, when a woman plowed into him while high on crack cocaine. He had little chance of surviving the impact created by the GMC Yukon flying along at over 75mph. She was also running a red light in a 30mph zone. At least she had her lights on. As with the piece of trash who struck and killed Nowak, she had a long history of felony convictions. At the time of the crash, she had 4 outstanding warrants for her arrest. Although, if her past history were to be any indication, she'd be right back out on the street, threatening everyone's life and property. To make matters worse, she had been released from the Department of Corrections drug rehabilitation program only 10 days before she caused the death of Officer Barber.

Why were these two pieces of dirt even on the streets, after both being convicted of multiple felonies? Is 20 convictions not enough? Apparently not for the judicial system in King County and the State of Washington. When would be enough to trigger some sort of threshold that would keep such long term offenders behind bars? Both offenders were participants in a program known as the Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative (DOSA). A DOSA sentence allows the offender to be released early if they agree to participate a drug treatment and rehabilitation program. It must be frustrating, as member of the law enforcement community, to realize that after endangering yourself to arrest these type of scum and get them off the streets for the safety of the community, there's a great chance you'll get to repeat the process in short order.

Now, I am sure there are those who are helped by such programs. They probably have their place in the criminal justice system. Not being an expert in such matters, I can not be sure. One thing I am fairly sure of however, is that the place for such programs does not extend to career criminals with 20 priors. They are a lost cause, and need to be removed from society permanently for public safety and security. There should be no arguments, discussions or other diversions on this subject. Such individuals have demonstrated, consistently and repeatedly, their propensity to re-offend. DOSA will do little to alter this behavior pattern. It's only a matter of time before the “progressive” mindset that allows such alternative sentences to occur will contribute to yet another senseless tragedy. I only hope it's not a mother walking her babies down the street who is hit and killed next time.