Former Philadelphia Judge Wants To Be District Attorney
by Alex Lloyd Gross
Patrick Dugan retired from being a judge in Philadelphia’s Municipal Court System. Now he wants to be District Attorney. Why? “Somebody has to make this city safer and protect crime victims. Letting Larry Krasner serve as DA was like putting the fox in charge of the hen house,” Dugan said during a recent sit down interview.
“Krasner’s policies, they’ve failed the city. As a judge, I’ve seen that”. When he was on the bench, Dugan watched time after time when Krasner’s DA’s were losing cases, came unprepared and unmatched as attorneys won acquittals and offered low ball deals to gain a conviction, for something, Dugan lamented.
One of the many things that bother him is the lack of communication between Krasner’s office and crime victims. According to Dugan, they often fail to inform victims families of developments in a case. “The District Attorney has huge discretion on what to prosecute for, and with Krasner, everyone gets a deal”, Dugan said. That’s not to say as DA Dugan is going to toss every defendant into a jail cell.
When a drug buyer gets arrested, there used to be a great program, called AMP, Alternative Misdemeanor Program. “It was there to help a defendant progress, you get to see who they are and help that person. Doing nothing is not an option. The open air drug market in Kensington is being closed down, at least along the avenue. Deals are still being made and addicts are just moving to side streets. The problem remains. Dugan vowed to bring back the program.
Locking up everyone who is pinched for buying drugs is not the way to go. They are off the streets for their sentence, then put back onto the street, only this time they have lost their apartment and everything in it. They lost any government benefits they may have had. Now they are more of a problem than before.
Dugan criticized Krasner for his tough talk that is directed towards anyone on the other side of his ideology. “Where is the tough talk for retail theft cases”, Dugan asked. Krasner will not prosecute for retail theft unless it’s a huge dollar amount. “Smaller stores, small businesses cannot absorb that loss. Even WAWA is closing their center city locations due to rampant theft and crime,” Dugan said.
Patrick Dugan served in the US Armed Forces. He was a JAG lawyer and is a graduate of Rutgers Law School. After 9/11 he served by going back into the Army after he retired and went to Afghanistan. When Dugan ran for Municipal Judge is campaign slogan was “I hate the Cowboys”.
He has a shot at unseating Krasner, if people come out to vote. There are certain districts that Krasner will carry. In order for Dugan to win, there must be an overwhelming turnout of voters in areas that are up for grabs. He must win those areas.