Northeast News
September 28, 2016
Apparently our Buzz column from last week ruffled some feathers in the Prosecutor’s office, given our more-than-accurate description of the prosecutorial paradigm that routinely and systematically lets dangerous criminals out of jail, and specifically the known illegally armed felon in possession of a firearm that recently shot up the back of our building in the carrying out of another crime.

Let this watchdog community news-dog be completely clear: we didn’t go into this situation with the intent of ever penning a column about the malfeasance in the Prosecutor’s Office. Sadly, due to the inaction of the Jackson County Prosecutor in this case specifically, it just worked out that way.

This old pooch brings a host of neighborhood leadership to the table; in fact, over ten years as a neighborhood association President. Through this experience, a number of relationships were forged with law enforcement as well as County and City government. It was only through those relationships that we knew who to talk to and where to go in regard to the status of this bang, bang shoot ’em up case. We don’t consider that a brag, just a statement of fact.

The truth of the matter is that had this happened to any other citizen without this experience and knowledge of the process, i/e, who to call to find out what, that individual would have had to trust the County to properly prosecute the case and keep the known Felon In Possession (FIP) in custody. That trust would have been misguided and breached by the County Prosecutor’s office, because they failed to keep the bad guy in jail.

As we’ve noted before, this points to a pattern in Jackson County that consistently and systematically allows dangerous criminals to walk free. When it comes to the high profile cases that touch a nerve or make political sense to press hard, the County Prosecutor is front and center. Sadly, however, in the day-to-day prosecution of neighborhood thugs and petty thieves that cause 90% of the crime that negatively impacts quality of life, this Prosecutor and a string of those before her have failed miserably. There’s a reason criminals target Jackson County; our case is a microcosm for the prosecutorial ails of the county. The Dog has offered the Prosecutor’s office the opportunity to respond as well. We’ll keep you posted on how that pans out.