Last Friday Jackson County Executive Frank White announced that Teesha Miller, the County’s current Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) Director, would be the new Director of Jackson County COMBAT, the county’s Community Backed Anti Drug Tax. Miller has been with the County since February, which makes this nosey Newsdog think she’s quite the little ladder climber, given this appointment takes place less than 7 months into her gig with the County. But the Dog is always optimistic.

Optimistic until we read her quote in the press release noting that the county can’t arrest their way out of drug and violence issues. This is where the dog knew the fix was in and we’ll get the same old tired double talk that we get from Mean Jean and her lackeys that can’t seem to prosecute their way out of a paper sack. This critically thinking and LEO supporting Newsdog has long supported the arrest and vigorous prosecution of bad guys as a key way to improving quality of life throughout the county, especially in the city’s urban core. Sadly, however, the prosecutorial paradigm (or lack thereof) in the county speaks otherwise.

If you can’t arrest your way out of a problem, that means you can’t prosecute your way out of the problem. You can’t prosecute what you don’t arrest, right? Or can you. OH WAIT, you already DO that by routinely turning violent criminals back out on the street. That’s why good cops arrest the same thugs over and over again and the county rolls em back out on the streets with little or no consequence to the criminal.

So let’s just be honest with the citizens of Jackson County – a refreshing idea, right? The appointment of a new COMBAT Director with the same mindset as the County Prosecutor means absolutely nothing will change as far as how criminals are prosecuted (or not) in this county. The same paradigm will exist, the same excuses will be advanced to support failed initiatives like NOVA, the same talking heads will vie for the almighty photo op, and the murder rate and violent crime in Jackson County will continue to go unchecked. Same dance, different face.