Great Neck officials, residents discuss bail reform at Village Officials Association meeting

Dan Offner
The Great Neck Village Officials Association was joined by members of the county's sixth precinct to discuss bail reform. (Photo by Dan Offner)

Local officials in Great Neck raised concerns about the state’s bail reform at a discussion last week with police leaders.

The officials and residents from around Great Neck were joined by two representatives from Nassau County’s 6th Precinct to discuss bail reform after a month of changes and the arrests of Chilean citizens in burglaries across the North Shore. 

Inspector Robert Fitchett and Deputy Inspector Harun Begis of the 6th Precinct spoke to residents and officials at the Great Neck Village Officials Association on Jan. 28.

Among those present was Great Neck Village Officials Association President and Village of Great Neck Estates Mayor William Warner, Nassau County Legislator Ellen Birnbaum, Town of North Hempstead Councilwoman Veronica Lurvey and Saddle Rock Mayor Dan Levy.

Levy said that while he feels elected officials in Albany are doing a great job, he feels they passed bail reform without thinking it through.

“I understand that a poor person smoking a joint should not have to spend the rest of their life in jail,” Levy said. “But you have a burglary; you have a bank robbery; you have other real problems. You spend all these resources to catch the guys and then you sit there and say goodbye? I’ll see you in Chile. They’re sipping margaritas on the beach. Where’s the common sense?” 

Levy was referring to the recent spree of alleged burglaries by a Chilean crew that took place across several North Shore communities over the past month, including his home. 

Two men who burglarized Levy’s home were arrested, according to the county police. According to officials, the men stole roughly $100,000 worth of family items, gold coins and watches from Levy.

Levy added that while law enforcement recently apprehended suspects, the reform would mean the release of more than 175 people accused of misdemeanors and “nonviolent felonies.” 

“We have such limited rights to village courts to start with, and they just basically took away a lot more of them,” said Great Neck Village Judge Mark Birnbaum. “It’s frustrating because if you can’t charge bail or jail them until a trial then they’re not going to be here, some of the people when it comes time.” 

According to Birnbaum, while the reforms haven’t changed the rights of a judge to sentence, it does create an issue depending on the severity of the crime itself. For instance, he explained that while there is no bail for “burglary,” judges can still set bail for “attempted robbery.” 

In addition to setting restrictions on bail, the justice reforms took aim at improving the discovery and speedy trial process, changing civil asset forfeiture and improving the community re-entry process for ex-convicts.

According to a report by the New York State Association of Counties, bail will only be set for a list of “qualifying offenses,” while nonqualifying offenses mandate that police issue appearance tickets only, thereby not placing suspects in custody. 

Fitchett said that the police would usually send officers out to visit probationers in the area who they believe may be in violation of the terms of their probation. 

“It’s a very fruitful thing for us to get people off the streets,” Fitchett said, explaining how the police would normally hold violators. “Now we’ve got to cut them loose on the appearance ticket.” 

One resident at the meeting responded by asking police representatives, “Why waste officers’ time doing this at all?” 

“We gotta do what we got to do,” Begis replied. “We’re going to play by the rules.”

Lurvey mentioned that social media plays a large role in notifying people about crimes and wondered what could be done on a more personal level to combat an immediate or potential threat.

“Social media is a powerful tool, as we’ve all seen,” Fitchett said. “If there is any information that residents want, they can contact my office or the Police Department, but when it comes to providing residents with the most factual evidence and information, we may be a bit behind some people who witnessed something first hand, and we haven’t yet.”

Fitchett also said he will relay the information back to the precinct and encourage officials to send out more “blasts” and “alerts” to the public to catch up with the times.

Warner said that the spread of factual information is necessary, but also mentioned there is a distinct line between spreading information to help residents stay safe and spreading an unintentional rumor that makes residents scared for no reason.

Both Fitchett and Begis advised the public to keep a light or two on at all times and to monitor all access points before residents leave their homes or go to bed.

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