Hochul tells Catsimatidis she delayed budget to change bail reform
By Andrew Harris
We’ve railed about the NYS bail reform on this site and that coverage has been hailed and jeered as you’d expect. Since the New York State budget deal passed recently, some changes have been noted.
More individuals who are arrested for violent or repeat crimes are being taken to jail, not released on good faith. Officers are charging suspects with greater confidence that the judge will have the power to make the right decision.
And that was a very big part of the problem. Police officers were not bothering to arrest people because the system wouldn’t deal with them. In Wellsville, officers were sometimes forced to arrested the same filthy, drugged up jerk multiple times per day. “Catch and release” was a nightmare for everyone.
After the recent wave of legislation that comes with a budget deal, things have changed according to Governor Kathy Hochul. She interviewed with the famous NYC real estate and media mogul John Catsimatidis on WABC-770 radio’s “Cat’s Roundtable” and made it clear that a major flaw with “bail reform” had been fixed:
“The judges now have to look at the power that has been returned to them. Look at whether this is someone who has been a repeat offender causing harm.”
Governor Kathy Hochul
It seems that the Village of Wellsville law enforcement and courts have already used the newly restored discretionary power to the public advantage. Several known vagrants have been removed from the streets recently and the Wellsville Police Department has been walking the beat 24/7. Vagrancy issues seem to have abated to some degree.
Let’s hope that the days of watching dangerous criminals walk away after an arrest are over.
