Why was he allowed to drive?

If Jose Borbon wasn't aware that he could get a conditional driver's license weeks after being charged with driving with a blood-alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles made sure to let him know.

The DMV sent Borbon a letter after he was charged with DWI Jan. 4 informing him he was eligible to keep driving under the terms of a state policy that allows accused drivers - and, in some cases, convicted ones - to stay on the road.

The Plainview man was charged Sunday with DWI in the collision earlier that morning that killed Suffolk police officer Glen Ciano, 45. The policy has caused outrage among some advocates for tougher DWI laws.

"To me, it's like somebody shoots you and you say, 'You know what? You need this gun for your protection, so we'll give it back to you,' " said Denna Cohen, a spokeswoman for Mothers Against Drunk Driving Long Island.

There are two types of conditional licenses - pre-conviction and post-conviction. Pre-conviction licenses, like the one that Borbon had, have been around since 1994 and are issued to eligible drivers who have a pending DWI charge.

If a driver meets the criteria, the DMV sends a notice informing that the driver can apply for a conditional license.

DMV spokesman Ken Brown said the licenses "allow for the continuation of driving privileges under very limited circumstances so as not to bear an undue hardship upon the individual."

Asked how drivers with conditional licenses are monitored to be sure they are abiding by the conditions, Brown said, "That's up to law enforcement."

But when not used properly, conditional licenses can serve to reward drunken drivers for breaking the law, said Nassau Assistant District Attorney Maureen McCormick, head of the office's vehicular crimes bureau.

McCormick gave the example of two drivers with pending DWI charges being arrested again for driving while impaired by alcohol. A driver without any kind of driver's license would face a felony for aggravated driving without a license, while a driver with a conditional license would face only infractions - even if he violated the conditions of the license.

"Isn't that stupid?" said McCormick, adding that there needs to be greater discretion on issuing conditional licenses. "The law is just terrible."

But Albany defense attorney Peter Gerstenzang, author of "Handling the DWI Case in New York," said changing the law regarding conditional licenses won't serve to curb alleged drunken drivers facing a situation like Borbon's.

If someone "is willing to drive drunk with a pending DWI at 4 a.m.," he said, "does anybody really think he wouldn't have been out there without a conditional (icense)?"