What are Centre County DA Bernie Cantorna’s plans for 2019?
Adding a county detective is among District Attorney Bernie Cantorna’s priorities as he transitions into his second year in office.
Though he’s “extremely comfortable” with the current model, Cantorna said the detective will be assigned to the Centre County Drug Task Force and spend about 20 percent of his or her time on drug investigations.
“The reality is that, depending on what agency you have, they’re stressed with every case that they charge,” Cantorna said. “With every case they charge, there’s another 20 they’re investigating.”
Cantorna said the Centre County budget has authorized an unfilled attorney position for two years, but with his office fully staffed, he said he would rather swap out the attorney position for a detective. Money from the drug forfeiture account will also help pay for the position.
“Really wouldn’t be a significant increase in our budget given the elimination of the one attorney position,” Cantorna said.
A detective could also help the University of Wisconsin graduate meet all three of his goals that he outlined while campaigning against former DA Stacy Parks Miller.
Aggressively prosecute crimes of sexual assault and child abuse.
A comprehensive approach to combat the opioid and heroin crisis.
Working in a positive manner through education, rehabilitation and measured prosecutions to address the underlying causes of crime to reduce recidivism through diversion programs.
Cantorna’s approach has included reviewing and updating certain protocols, while also developing protocols for growing problems like drug overdoses.
Pennsylvania had the fifth-highest drug overdose death rate in the United States in 2016 and had a 44.1 percent increase from 2015 to 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In response, Gov. Tom Wolf declared the epidemic a statewide emergency, the HOPE Initiative and the DA’s office have hosted town halls and the drug task force has also assigned officers to the Bellefonte, Philipsburg and Snow Shoe areas.
“The objective is to prosecute the dealers and to find out who is the person selling the drugs to the person who has a substance abuse disorder,” Cantorna said. “Not necessarily prosecute the two individuals who have the same disorder who were sharing heroin.”
Even if the relevant parties are able to get one drug under control, Cantorna said the county will continue to face challenges as they “move on to the next one.”
“As I’ve often said, we will not arrest ourselves out of the opioid crisis. It just can’t be done,” Cantorna said. “These are someone’s children, these are neighbors who are struggling with this and if we can address issues at the root cause that’s a win-win.”
As an alternative to incarcerating someone, Cantorna cited the usefulness of the county’s drug court, which began operating in January after about two years of preparation.
“We’re attempting to save lives,” Cantorna said. “I think that the drug court is going to look at expanding their role to address people who may be coming into the system for the first time, but have an obvious substance abuse disorder so that maybe we can actually save their lives and not have them such a significant criminal record that, once they save their lives, their employability and future is permanently diminished.”
And while drug use continues to pose a problem throughout Pennsylvania, Cantorna said crime was statistically down in Centre County this year, though it’s “too early to say why it’s down.”
He also said there isn’t much of a difference from one of the county’s more populated areas like State College when compared to a less populated area like Philipsburg or Millheim.
“Yes, State College has issues with drugs and sexual assault and rape and alcohol-fueled incidents, I would say. But Philipsburg and Millheim and Bellefonte have different challenges,” Cantorna said. “You might see more of an incident of a particular issue in one of those places, but people are people and we have the same types of crimes in all of those jurisdictions.”
All of Cantorna’s specific goals, however, underscore the larger goal he is trying to accomplish — restoring the public’s faith in the DA’s office and the court system.
“It’s been very challenging and rewarding,” Cantorna said. “I’m glad it’s in the books and I’m looking forward to year two.”
This story was originally published December 21, 2018 at 11:48 AM.