GOSHEN – New York State has voted to reform its bail procedures, and many will be released from county jails January 1.
“What this law has done is create chaos in the counties in New York State,” said Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus. “The impacts from this will be measurable and immeasurable. In January, you are going to let individuals go that are going to commit crimes and should be incarcerated.”
Neuhaus attended a news conference Thursday at the Orange County government center with regional district attorneys, including Orange County DA Dave Hoovler and Dutchess DA William Grady, and many law enforcement personnel.
“We all agreed we needed to change a few things, but we were cut out of the process. New Jersey threw millions and millions of dollars to their reform. We got zero. New Jersey has risk assessment tools that judges and pre-trial services are allowed to use to look and determine if someone should be released. The laws they passed in New York, nothing,” said Hoovler. “In New York, you can commit repeated misdemeanor, upon misdemeanor, upon misdemeanor and you can’t get bail. You can literally be a crime wave in your community, and you cannot be held in jail.”
Dominick Blasko is the police chief in the Town of Crawford, and president of the county police chiefs association. He thinks the legislation favors criminals instead of the victims.
“By one budget vote, they got rid of victim rights, took the handcuffs off the suspects and put them of law enforcement. It’s a sad day in New York,” said Blasko. “We hope our legislators change their minds.”
