Deterring Violent Crime?

When you hear politicians talking about efforts to deter violent crime, most times they are bemoaning the fact that there are "to many guns on the streets" and they attempt to devise legislation to restrict a free citizens right to keep and bear arms. Currently in Texas we have one piece of legislation in committee that looks to "Close the Gun Show Loophole" and another that would do away with private transfers of hand guns and require a waiting period for all hand gun sales. Adding more restrictions onto the back of free citizens will do nothing to reduce violent crime, this has been proven time after time, yet still they persist.

I have an idea...

Why don't they do something about incidents like this?

From the Star Telegram:

By Melody McDonald

Inmate escapes from facility for parole violators

FORT WORTH — Law enforcement officials were searching Monday for a 46-year-old convicted felon who escaped Sunday from a facility for parole violators near Fort Worth Meacham International Airport.

Well, you learn something new every day. I did not know they had a special facility for parole violators. This must be a pretty secure facility, seeing as how it houses those who have shown a complete disregard for the laws of the land by blowing it when they had a chance at freedom.

Officials said Eladio Diaz Jr. was last seen about 4:30 p.m. Sunday working on a vehicle with other inmates outside the North Texas Intermediate Sanction Facility, a lock-up at 4600 Blue Mound Road that houses up to 400 parole violators.

Wait a second... did they just say that this conviced felon, who violated parole, was working on cars outside the facility?

Shortly before 11 p.m., officials discovered Diaz — a trusty who had been permitted to work outside the facility — was not in his cell for bed check, said Lt. Dean Sullivan, a Fort Worth police spokesman.

And they never noticed that he did not return with the other convicts... heavy sigh.

Okay, maybe this is one of the drug offenders who committed a vicitmless crime. You know that sometimes I can jump to conclusions, maybe we should read further into the article.

Diaz is believed to be in the Fort Worth area or in Houston and should be considered dangerous, said Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

“We would not want the public to apprehend him,” Clark said.

Clark said Diaz was paroled from prison in December 2003 after serving 12 years of a 25-year sentenced for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon out of Nueces County in south Texas.

In November, he violated his parole when he was arrested and charged in Nueces County with making a terroristic threat.

There went that theory. So here is a conviced felon, a violent criminal, who served less than half of his 25 year sentence on the loose in our community. This facility he was in is a short term facility. The most anyone spend in there is 90 days, then they are back on the streets.

...and serves as a short-term punishment facility — for 90 days instead of revoking his parole and sending him back to prison.

“It is designed to get their attention,” Clark said of the facility. “Once they are done with their stint there, they are back on parole.”

This is how the State protects us from violent criminals.

Oh... in case you were wondering what this goblin looks like, just in case he walks up to you and your family at the local stop and rob, to bad. There is no picture of the goblin with the article.

Edit to add:

This morning I checked to see if there were any update to this case and found that there is now a photo of the goblin available.