Sheriffs voice concern over bail changes

TRI-COUNTY AREA--Local sheriffs are expressing concerns as new guidelines for the bail system are set to go into effect Jan. 1. Both Sheriff Ron Spike of Yates and Sheriff Bill Yessman of Schuyler County said that while they understand why the reform was implemented, it may go too far.
"This is going to be a disaster," Yessman said.
He added, "The fact is that police officers are not going to be able to take custodial arrest of people breaking the law and have to instead issue appearance tickets. Bail isn't meant to be a punishment but sometimes there are reasons to take someone before a court, maybe even just to give a cool down period."
Spike was more measured in his response, saying that while he understood what the need for reform was being instituted Jan. 1, it might do more harm than good to upstate communities.
"I understand the issue of individuals that are being held in jail, but sometimes the legislation is more extreme than it needs to be. Obviously there needed to be an adjustment...we will see how it pans out and works but there is concern it may lead to more crime and failure to appear and more bench warrants as a result," Yessman said.
At issue is the state government's decision to overhaul the state bail system by eliminating cash bail for most misdemeanors and non-violent offenses. In a press release issued by Governor Andrew Cuomo's office last year it argued, "New York's current bail system fails to recognize that freedom before trial should be the rule, not the exception, and by tying freedom to money, it has created a two-tiered system that puts an unfair burden on the economically disadvantaged."
Of concern for both Yessman and Spike is that they must release from county jail anyone currently being held on current bail provisions come Jan. 1.
"There is concern that you won't need as much jail staff. But we can't make that assumption until we are in the year a little bit," Spike said.
He added that while he expected the jail population to dip early in the new year, it may come back up after the adjustment is made.
"We'll see where it levels off," Spike said.
For the majority of crimes, officers will now issue appearance tickets instead of taking suspects in for arraignment before a judge.
"The majority, I would say 80 percent of what we deal with will now be released on their own recognizance," Spike said.
Spike added that was especially concerning in how he says it relates to instances of assaulting officers.
"I think some of the stuff that is hard for law enforcement to understand is if someone resists arrest or hurts one of us or whatever that type of thing we are going to have to give an appearance ticket. Burglary of a dwelling is a felony exception; we have to give them an appearance ticket so the homeowner doesn't send the right message," Spike said.
Yessman also expressed concern over the burglary exception.
"My feelings are they are going to blame law enforcement for the results. Like if we take someone for burglary and then issue an appearance ticket and hours later they are doing the same thing at a neighbor's house. It doesn't make any sense to me," Yessman said.
Spike added that without the act of waiting in jail for their trial, defendants found guilty would no longer have the benefit of time served. This means guilty defendants would be unable to subtract the time spent waiting in jail against their sentence.
"The other thing we have had success with Upstate is once somebody is in jail we have pretrial services or just jail services....There is counseling for substance abuse and alcohol and sometimes that was what led them to be in trouble in the first place," Spike said.
Now Spike and Yessman believe that many suspects who are issued appearance tickets, specifically as it relates to drugs and out of town offenders, will simply not appear in court, leaving them out on the street to reoffend.
"Most people in my business predict crime will increase and that victimization will increase. The amount of bench warrants is going to increase also. I understand the need for this legislation but they might have gone too extreme with it. It needs to be middle ground when it comes to incarceration and victimization," Spike said.
He added that the victims are often what have been lost in the discussion over bail reform.
"I just think it's unfortunate that local judges lose a lot of discretion, that is concerning because it seems like the legislation loses concern for victims in all this," Spike said.
Along with having to retrain their officers on new procedures and what situations can include bail and what is now an appearance ticket, Yessman said his officers may get bogged down in situations that previously wouldn't have been a problem.
"Say we go to a bar and find an unruly patron and we remove them and give them a ticket and they want to go back inside. They fight again, we give an appearance ticket again," Yessman said.
Still, despite the concern, Spike said that he would follow the new bail conditions to the letter.
"The law is the law. I took an oath to enforce and follow the law and we shall do that," Spike said.