Crime Stopper No. 1

One incumbent, who is running unopposed - deserves to be reelected to his job as Queens County's No. 1 Crime stopper - District Attorney Richard A. Brown.
Hampered by budget cuts amounting to 20 percent in the years following 9/11, DA Brown managed to do more with less each and every year.
For the third year in a row in 2005, Queens led the city in reducing violent crime and this year his office will prosecute nearly 70,000 arrest cases.
Following an impressive legal career in various positions in the New York State Senate and Assembly and representing New York City, Brown was appointed as a Judge of the Criminal Court and in two years took over as Supervising Judge of the Brooklyn Criminal Court. In 1976, Judge Brown was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court in Queens County. He served as Counsel to Governor Hugh Carey for four years before becoming an Associate Justice of the Appellate Division. Twice redesignated to Appellate Division by Governor Mario Cuomo, he accepted Cuomo's appointment as District Attorney of Queens County in June of 1991. Elected to his first full four-year term as DA in November of 1991, he has held the job building it into one of the finest prosecutors' offices in the state.
During his tenure, auto thefts in the borough have dropped from over 52,000 cars stolen in 1991 to fewer than a projected 5,000 this year - a better than 90 percent decrease. Queens is currently enjoying the largest city-wide decrease in index crimes - which include violent crime and burglaries, grand larcenies and auto theft - 6.8 percent.
DA Brown is proud of the fact that Queens County has the best arrest-to-arraignment and arrest-to-sworn complaint times in the City. Over 80 percent of cases are arraigned with 24 hours; thereby getting the cops back out on the street instead of hanging out in courthouse corridors waiting to see a judge.
The initiative that stands out to us is that DA Brown's Domestic Violence Bureau has the highest conviction rate in the City; the lowest dismissal rate; and arranges more pre-indictment felony pleas than the rest of city combined.
Brown attributes that bureau's success rate to quick interviewing and videotaping of the victim right after the complaint. Brown prosecutes these cases even if the complainant is reluctant to do so because the abuser is often the father of her children and the breadwinner. Brown wants to make sure the abuser gets the medical and psychological help he needs.
Therefore, when you go to vote on Tuesday, November 7, be sure to pull the lever next to the name Richard A. Brown on the row marked District Attorney, and keep our best crime stopper at work - making Queens a safer place to work and live.