NYPD: Bail Reform Caused Surge in Gun Violence

New York City’s five police unions issued a statement this week citing the state’s bail reform law, which took effect in 2020, as the cause of last year’s 47% increase in murders and 100% increase in shootings.  Rocco Parascandola of the New York Daily News has this story, quoting the head of the Police Benevolent Association, “Our cops on the street warned us that it was happening.  We warned the politicians that this (bail reform) won’t work.  Violence will rise.  And it has.”

The New York bail reform law gives habitual offenders, even those with guns, automatic release.  Judges are prohibited from holding them or setting bail.  The call to repeal this law comes as New York City Council is considering additional restrictions on police to combat alleged racial bias.

The head of the Detectives Endowment Association said that it should not take continued violence to change the laws, “How much blood needs to spill on our streets before our elected officials both in the city and state fix what they have broken.  The lives of all New Yorkers depend on it.”  Also speaking out against the city’s current no-bail law were the family members of shooting victims.