Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman Says Bail Reform Is Leading To Uptick In Violent Crime
MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- From jail to bail, the Nassau County Executive is making it clear he wants changes to the state's bail reform laws.
A week after lobbying lawmakers in Albany, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed a local executive order regarding bail reform.
"At the bottom of every press release, it will state if that individual had been released on that no bail status and now he's being re-arrested," Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said.
Nassau's police commissioner has been directed to disclose in daily reports the pending criminal case data and bail status of those re-arrested.
Blakeman will also post that information on the county website.
As CBS2's Jennifer McLogan reports, he's beating the drum on the cashless bail law that he says is eroding public safety and leading to an uptick in violent crime.
"Judges should have the discretion to take a look at all the facts and make a determination ... I think that the people are fed up," Blakeman said.
Fed up because of statistics, he claims.
Between July 2020 and June 2020, in 20% of bail-related cases, the person released was re-arrested, and 430 recidivist defendants were re-arrested for violent felony with a firearm.
Blakeman says bail reform is why he was elected and why Nassau's GOP district attorney swept into office.
Others question if public shaming will solve recidivism.
"Those individuals' names being publicly available is pointless and exploitation ... This is not gonna achieve the result that Mr. Blakeman wants," defense attorney Bruce Barket said.
CBS2 spoke with voters both Democrat and Republican.
"I don't think bail reform is working out well," one person said.
"They come out and they commit the same crimes again," another person said.
"The community here wants stricter reform," another person said.
Blakeman predicts the midterm elections will be disastrous for Democrats unless they come together to compromise on or repeal the bail reform laws.
State statistics show only a small percentage of defendants released without bail commit another crime, and in some cases, judges with discretion have decided on no bail.
This story originally appeared on Jan. 19, 2022.