Nassau Police Commissioner Ryder Blasts Bail Reform On Fox News

MINEOLA, NY— While New York’s bail reform law is freeing criminals across the state, one police commissioner says the law is making it harder for him and the people working under him to do their jobs.

“I was a cop back in the '80s when the revolving door of the crack [epidemic] was going in and out, and it brings down your morale in policing," Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said Tuesday morning on "Fox & Friends." "Now we’re seeing the same thing. Those we lock up, those that are going to jail are coming out the same day.”

Because of the law, Ryder said, two men from Chile — Bryan Alexis Farias Luna, 28, and Isaias Antonio Lienlaf Donoso, 35 — recently were allowed to walk free. Both men were arrested in December after police said they broke into homes in Nassau County and Queens. They are believed to be part of an international burglary ring.

"We had two individuals who came in on a 90-day visa from Chile," he said. "They committed havoc on the North Shore. They committed about a dozen burglaries, well over a million dollars in assets," Ryder told the show host. "We locked them up. We put them in jail. The law went retroactive and released them out of jail. They were told to come and get their ankle bracelets. They did not report. They’re probably sitting on a beach in Chile right now."

Alaska and New Jersey reportedly have similar bail reform laws. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders recently made headlines when he said he would implement bail reform nationwide if elected president.

"Our cash bail system is a disgrace that disproportionately hurts black, brown and poor Americans," Sanders tweeted. "New York did the right thing by reforming its bail law and must not go backwards. When we are in the White House, we will end cash bail nationally."

Ryder told Fox News that bail reform can be a good thing; however, he stressed that every criminal case should be looked at individually before an inmate is allowed to be released from jail.

"You need to look at certain items. You can’t have an 18-year-old kid sitting in jail for marijuana for a week because he couldn’t come up with the $500 worth of bail," Ryder said. "But we don’t let the same person walk out that commits a burglary in Nassau County and steals over a million dollars, puts fear into an entire community, and he walks out."

Crimes that no longer require bail in New York include criminally negligent homicide, second-degree manslaughter, third-degree assault, burglary and stalking.

In Shirley, a Bellport man charged with DWI after a deadly crash over the weekend was freed without bail. In another case, an Island Park woman was freed from jail under the new law, arrested a day later, released again, and then arrested again for a similar crime.

Under the new bail reform law, judges have no say in who is released and who isn't. Ryder told Fox News that this needs to change.

"Judges are the most respected people in our law enforcement community," he said. "They’re the most educated. They need to have that discretion to decide who should stay and who should go."

Meanwhile, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran recently said she plans to head to Albany to advocate for necessary amendments to the law.

"The fact is that although some reforms of our criminal justice system were needed, the reforms passed by the state went too far and too fast," she told Patch in a statement last week.

SEE ALSO:

• Too Far, Too Fast: Curran Responds To Bail Reform Petition