By: Daniela Doria
The Police Commissioner of New York City, Keechant Sewell recently gave an interview to discuss bail reform laws that have recently been adopted. According to Sam Raskin of The New York Post, Sewell is looking to get tough on crime.
“The criminal justice reform law that took effect in 2020, I think, that is definitely part of the thinking that needs to change,” Sewell said on “The Cats Roundtable,” hosted by John Catsimatidis. “We can keep most of the important elements of the reform, but there are absolutely some things that need to be adjusted.”
Sewell also appeared to decry the decriminalization of quality-of-life crimes, such as turnstile jumping, marijuana usage and boozing in public. The New York Post reports, “there are entire categories of serious crimes that we can no longer make an arrest for. We can only issue a summons,” Sewell said on WABC 770.
Sewell continued, “we have used discretion in the past. Now, we don’t even have that. “There are entire categories of crime where we can make an arrest, but the judges are legally prohibited from ever setting bail — even if the same burglar or car thief commits the same crime every day and ends up in front of the same judge. They used to have that discretion, and in many cases we don’t have that anymore.”
“Sewell’s comments echo those from her boss, Mayor Eric Adams, who has also been urging Albany lawmakers to tweak the reform law they passed in 2019. The legislation, which also changed discovery laws, was rolled back in 2020 to add to the list of crimes for which bail could be set. Adams wants New York judges to be allowed to consider the “dangerousness” of the defendant when deciding whether to hold them on bail or release them from custody”, according to Raskin.
“The most dangerous thing our officers do is to go after somebody with a gun. They do it every single day. And when someone does get out, it is very frustrating,” she said. “But we are making the largest number of arrests over the last two years that we’ve seen in over a quarter of a century. Our officers, they are answering the calls, they’re helping people, they are engaging the public in their homes, in the streets, and on the transit system,” the police commissioner added. “I greet them on patrol. I know our cops are engaged. Don’t let anyone tell you that because of morale or criticism or bad laws our cops are mailing it in, because they are not. They are not phoning it in at all. They are out there helping New Yorkers every single day and night”, Sewell tasks during the radio interview.