tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381178726351529067.post3581597589424209481..comments2023-10-30T03:01:45.682-07:00Comments on Miller Park Neighborhood Association: Stay Out of Drug Area (SODA) program: your support neededK and/or Jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12851528197148520132noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381178726351529067.post-84914531670066008552008-04-10T09:38:00.000-07:002008-04-10T09:38:00.000-07:00This morning, I e-mailed my questions and comments...This morning, I e-mailed my questions and comments directly to Ms. O'Neill-Stephens.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03437210532036832703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381178726351529067.post-55854287288300777122008-04-09T15:36:00.000-07:002008-04-09T15:36:00.000-07:00[I missed both the attached map and Ms. O'Neill-St...[I missed both the attached map and Ms. O'Neill-Stephens' update before I posted my original comment. Following is the revised edition.]<BR/><BR/>The sticky part about SODA is that it bypasses various checks & balances and creates a crime out of a non-crime.<BR/><BR/>When someone is issued the SODA order, he has been neither convicted of nor tried for wrongdoing. At that point, if he is found to be in the applicable SODA area, then he is in violation of the law, even when he's not doing anything that would otherwise be unlawful.<BR/><BR/>Is there is any appeals process for a SODA order?<BR/><BR/>Are they issued only as conditions of pre-trial release, or can they also be issued by police officers? I have previously been told that the latter is the case.<BR/><BR/>I know my way around the Internet and am pretty handy with a Web browser, but I can't find a Seattle SODA map anywhere besides here in this blog post. I had no idea that these areas now covered the entire core of the city. This is crazy.<BR/><BR/>Ms. O'Neill-Stephens' update states that exemptions are made for certain places during certain hours. I'm left wondering, though, whether it would be possible for people to get <I>to and from</I> their jobs, homes, or court without violating a SODA order. And what if someone is ordered to stay out of Zone 4, which includes a major bus transfer points?<BR/><BR/>She also states that if a person lives in a SODA zone, the order is <I>usually</I> not imposed. I read this to mean that sometimes a person <I>is</I> ordered to stay out of a SODA zone that includes his home. That is ridiculous.<BR/><BR/><B>I understand the desire to keep people who have been accused of crime out of areas where we suspect that they may be likely to commit more crime, but somehow this seems unconstitutional to me.</B><BR/><BR/>If someone has been accused of crime, arranged, and released until his trial (without SODA order), and that person is later found in one of these SODA areas, isn't he a sitting duck? It seems to me that the wise course of action would be to watch him closely when he's found in that area, and if he is seen committing another crime (which we feel he's very likely to do or else we wouldn't be suggesting all this SODA business, right?), arrest him <I>again</I>, thereby collecting even more evidence to use against him in court.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03437210532036832703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381178726351529067.post-11608589303636969812008-04-09T15:18:00.000-07:002008-04-09T15:18:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03437210532036832703noreply@blogger.com