§ 177-a. Declaration of legislative findings and intent. The legislature hereby finds and declares that an emergency of grave dimensions exists in narcotics law enforcement in cities having a population of one million or more. The overall law enforcement effort has not been successful in stemming the distribution of narcotic drugs. The legislature finds that the ineffectiveness of official efforts to contain the narcotics traffic is due in significant part to the inability of the overburdened criminal justice system to cope with the enormous volume of narcotics cases.
The legislature further finds that this crisis, which transcends the traditional jurisdictional boundaries of the counties wholly contained within such cities having a population of one million or more, demands coordinated prosecution, centralized direction and the infusion of massive new resources.
The legislature declares that without these new directions and resources, this crisis will intensify and very shortly overwhelm the already strained criminal justice system.
Based upon the above findings the legislature hereby declares that an emergency narcotics court program is required.
It is the intent of the legislature that the emergency narcotics program should be coordinated by the division of criminal justice of the office of planning services in cooperation with the criminal justice coordinating councils of such cities. The program would be implemented by the joint efforts of the district attorneys of the counties within cities having a population of one million or more, the judiciary, and other criminal justice services acting in accordance with a mutually agreed upon plan. The legislature contemplates that the program authorized herein shall consist of the establishment of special narcotics parts in the supreme court in cities having a population of one million or more to hear and determine narcotic cases from within counties wholly contained in a city having a population of one million or more, commencing not later than the September nineteen hundred seventy-two term and continuing thereafter during the duration of the emergency.
The legislature declares that the resources necessary for these special narcotics parts of the supreme court can be made available only through a combination of federal funds from the law enforcement assistance administration of the United States department of justice, and state and local funds, services and facilities. To this end the legislature declares that in order to utilize presently appropriated federal funds, all necessary agreements shall be entered into forthwith.
