The Professional Bondsmen of Texas- Blog

Jim Quinn is a former assistant district attorney in Queens, New York.  His family has lived in New York for four generations.  Jim was on the front lines as New York passed bail reform through the the budget bill in 2019 and when it went into effect in January 2020.  Jim has written numerous articles about the New York bail reform and its impact on crime.  On this episode of The Bail Post we look back at 5 years under the New York bail reform law including the three roll backs by the New York legislature.  Join us and find out whether these reforms have been a success or whether they have been a failure.  Audio Podcast- Also available on- Apple Podcasts-            CLICK HERE Spotify-                        CLICK HERE Google Podcasts-        CLICK HERE Podcast Index-            C...

New York City judges are allowing violent offenders back on the streets at an alarming rate, according to an analysis by the New York Post. Queens Criminal Court Judge Wanda Licitra, who was appointed by former mayor Bill DeBlasio, released 29 out of 34 (85%) of alleged violent felons between January to June 2024, according to the analysis, which examined 96 judges who handled at least 25 cases over the six-month window. Licitra, a former Legal Aid Society attorney who took the bench in 2021, has reportedly garnered a reputation for letting violent criminals walk free. In February 2022, she released Frank Abrokwa, who was accused of shoving his own excrement into a Bronx female subway rider’s face. Abrokwa was freed without bail even after wailing "f--k you bitch" at the judge in a courtroom tirade. To see more CLICK HERE .

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo stood by the Empire State’s controversial bail reforms Sunday,  telling reporters after a mayoral campaign stop at a Harlem church that, “It righted a terrible social  wrong.” Cuomo, 67, has become the front-runner since throwing his hat into the race to unseat Mayor Eric  Adams, playing largely on his performance during his 11 years as the state’s chief executive —  including the criminal justice reforms that lawmakers passed on his watch. To see more CLICK HERE . Cumo is trying to thread the needle by being seen as tough on crime but still support the failed bail reform passed by his party.

Bail reform failure keeps all of NY in danger by New York State Senator Tom O'Mara October 24, 2024 It was just over a year ago, shortly after the enactment of a state budget that paid Albany Democrat lip service to the need to end New Y rk’s failed and dangerous bail reform experiment, when Gov. Kathy Hochul declared, “We are done with bail. We accomplished what we needed to do.” Since then, it sure has looked like the governor meant what she said. She and the Legislature’s Democrat majorities have done nothing to fix a continually failing and exceedingly dangerous law that they put in place and that has turned the criminal justice system in this state upside down.  The latest exhibit of their failure comes out of Western New York in Allegany County, where I represent a portion of the eastern half of the county. Recently, following a year-long investigation and surveillance operation of an illegal drug operation in a former factory in the small town of Cuba, local and state law en...

Let’s have a look at crime and punishment. Most of us know that crimes have changed over the years. So have enforcement, the criminal justice system and our prisons. There seems to be more and more lawlessness reported every day. I know some say that communication and reporting techniques have made it simply look like there’s more crime, and we all know that statistics can be presented in such a way to favor one side of an argument or another. We hear that crime is up in one area, down in another; higher in cities; better or worse than last year. I’m not talking about a poor family that desperately shoplifted food to try to survive, or the youngster who lifts a pack of gum. This is more directed to the “smash and grab” gangsters who are destroying the fabric of our neighborhoods. I dislike going to my local drug and convenience stores, because I have to summon a clerk several times just to unlock shaving cream or aspirin. I find it very hard to believe that everything needs to be locke...

  Jim VanBrederode, a former Gates Police Chief, pointed to the  current state of security measures in stores as an example that things have  gone too far.   “We now have concrete barriers in front of all of our stores, we have blue light  cameras in the parking lots, we have security guards at the front door. You go  to get toothpaste and you’ve got to get the associate to unlock the toothpaste.   This is what we face every day now because we’ve gone way too far on not  being able to take off the streets those that are not going to stop re-offending, ”   VanBrederode says. VanBrederode believes many of the criminal justice reforms that went into place  in 2021 have had a negative impact on the community.   “They (democratic majority) literally went through the whole criminal justice  system and made massive radical changes to create a restorative justice model,  they literally touched everything from t...

New York recently passed the third or fourth round of roll backs of the bail reform it passed at the start of the pandemic.  On this Episode of The Bail Post we learn all about the bail reforms that New York passed and the various roll backs passed since.  Our guest is Michelle Esquenazi who is the President of The National Association of Bail Agents. Video version of Podcast- To view on Youtube- CLICK HERE . Audio only- Also available on: Apple Podcasts-            CLICK HERE Spotify-                        CLICK HERE Google Podcasts-        CLICK HERE Podcast Index-            CLICK HERE Amazon Music-          CLICK HERE Stitcher-                      CLICK HERE iHeart-    ...

  Why are Democrats expected to lose in the Nov. 8 elections? When the dust clears, people may look back at the answer Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) gave on crime during her debate against her Republican opponent, Rep. Lee Zeldin. "Halfway through the debate," Zeldin complained, "she still hasn't talked about locking up anyone committing any crimes." Hochul, who as governor has the power to remove the many New York district attorneys currently refusing to enforce the law and causing crime to spike (in New York City especially), responded by simply dismissing the issue out of hand. She asserted that there is no crime problem and that the system is working fine, and then she added, "I don't know why that's so important to you." This answer encapsulates everything that is wrong and out of touch about today's Democratic Party. It explains why Hochul is on the edge of losing a seemingly unlosable election and also why Democrats across the nation are ...

  Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican candidate for governor in New York, vowed on Sunday to fire liberal Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on his first day in office and reiterated criticism of his opponent, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, for standing by the state’s controversial bail reform law.  "Democrats – just like Republicans and Independents – are fed up with not feeling safe on our streets," Zeldin said during an appearance on Fox News’ "Sunday Morning Futures."  "My first act on my first day in office is telling the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg that he’s going to be fired," he continued. "Here in New York, we’ve seen cashless bail as a failure. It’s caused crime to increase. It needs to be repealed. Judges need discretion to weigh dangerousness. It is pro-criminal laws and DA’s refusing to their jobs, judges refusing to do theirs in some other cases and people less safe as a result."  Overall crime in New York is up by nearl...

In the last few months Representative Ann Johnson publicly called for Texas to get rid of bondsmen and replace the current system of release in Texas with the system referred to as "The New Jersey Plan."   On this episode learn what the New Jersey Plan is and how pretrial release is handled under this release system.   Our guest is Michelle Esquenazi who is a bondsman from New York.  Join us as we learn about a release/detain system that relies on an algorithm called a  risk assessment tool to make determinations about release.   To learn more about risk assessments visit the PBT website or go directly to one of the organizations pamphlets on the issue by CLICKING HERE . This is a great place to educate yourself about all things criminal justice reform/bail reform.  Educate yourself and join the debate. Also available on: Apple Podcasts-            CLICK HERE Spotify-           ...

  “Dems have a real problem,” a prominent Democratic lawmaker in New York City tells me. “Something I learned on this job is that if someone tells you they’re experiencing something, don’t waste your time telling them they’re not experiencing it.” The pol was talking about state Democrats’ instant rejection of Mayor Adams’ latest abrupt call for what would be a third round of rollbacks to the bill lawmakers originally passed in 2019 eliminating cash bail for many crimes. Adams, who won office on a promise to fairly restore a sense of safety, keeps asking for help as the crime numbers have mostly kept climbing on his watch. Even with murders and shootings down a bit so far this year from 2021, though still way up from 2019, his poll numbers have plummeted as 70% of New Yorkers say they feel less safe than they did before the pandemic while just 3% feel more safe. Eighty-five percent of New Yorkers and 91% of Black New Yorkers want more cops on trains. It’s a completely different sto...

  Bo Dietl is ready to pack his bags and move to Florida if Gov. Hochul wins a full term in office in November. The former NYPD detective and failed mayoral candidate said he’s considering relocating to the Sunshine State on Wednesday as he unleashed a fiery endorsement of GOP gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin at a Manhattan rally. “If he doesn’t become the governor, I’m moving to Florida because I’m sick and tired of this governor and this state with these liberal values, bail reform, this is what we need,” Dietl said, ripping into Hochul as he introduced Zeldin outside of a Hamilton Heights bodega. The one-time Arby’s spokesman turned private investigator was joined by Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa as Zeldin and a phalanx his supporters hammered Hochul over crime and New York’s cashless bail system. The Long Island congressman chose Wednesday’s locale as a nod to Jose Alba, a bodega clerk initially charged with murder for fatally stabbing an attacker during an altercation...

  Gov. Kathy Hochul doubled down on bail reform Monday, saying there is no evidence it has contributed to rising crime rates. Her remarks came on the day her Republican opponent, Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin, said reforms to solitary confinement rules led to an increase in attacks on corrections officers. Hochul was in Yonkers Monday for an official government event where she signed legislation. But during a question-and-answer session with reporters, she responded to new NYPD crime statistics that show the crime rate continues to move in the wrong direction. “Have you studied what’s happening in other cities across the nation?” Hochul asked. “Doesn’t make people feel real comfortable, but when you compare the number of cases per 100,000 — whether its different categories of crime, violent crime, shootings, homicides — we are still lower than major big cities.” According to the NYPD, overall crime was up more than 30% in New York City last month compared to the same period last year...

  Bronx business owners are demanding more be done to fight crime in their community and they’re turning up the heat on New York lawmakers over bail reform.  It eliminates case bail for most nonviolent crimes. The business owners blame the rise in crime on repeat offenders. They claim it’s making it nearly impossible to do business in their neighborhoods. "We need Albany to stop the nonsense that they’re doing, give Mayor Adams back up get some help out here," said small business owner Mario DeGiorgio. One example of the problem is seen in a security video released by the NYPD showing robbers targeting Rocco‘s Jewelry Store on Webster Avenue in the Bronx last week. The first man held the door open as the others ran inside. New York City Police say it took 30 seconds for the intruders to get away with $2 million worth of merchandise. This hurts business owner Mario DiGiorgio, who is also a member of the Fordham Road Business Improvement District.  "I’m disgusted with what...

  Even lefty Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg wanted him behind bars. A shoplifter with 122 busts under his belt was released on his own recognizance Wednesday thanks to controversial bail reform laws Bragg typically defends — and the DA’s office told The Post that even prosecutors would have asked for pre-trial detention if they could. In the latest reported case of lax city crime policies run amok, accused serial shoplifter Lorenzo McLucas, 34, was nabbed for stealing from the cosmetics counter at a Duane Reade on Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, according to cops and court documents. Bragg’s office told The Post that it would have requested McLucas be detained if it could, keeping in line with the DA’s recent announcement that he wanted to clamp down on serial shoplifters. “We cannot accept a system where individuals who shoplift again and again cycle in and out of jail, just to shoplift again,’’ Bragg had said in a June 17 statement — two days before city business owners revealed...

  Even after lawmakers in Albany approved another rollback of the 2019 bail reform law that eliminated pretrial detention in the vast majority of cases, the issue remains an incredibly contentious one. On Friday, John Jay College of Criminal Justice hosted a conference featuring lawmakers, criminal justice advocates, legal experts and journalists to delve into that ongoing debate that will surely continue well past the end of the 2022 legislative session.  The bail law most recently changed as part of this year’s state budget, coming as a last minute push from Gov. Kathy Hochul that upended the negotiations up to that point. The amendments approved in April made more gun crimes eligible for bail and gave judges greater discretion to consider factors other than flight risk when determining bail or pretrial detention. Democrats in the state Legislature resisted greater changes, like adding a so-called dangerousness clause that would have allowed judges to weigh the potential dan...

  A white 18-year-old wearing military gear and livestreaming with a helmet camera opened fire with a rifle at a supermarket in Buffalo, killing 10 people and wounding three others Saturday in what authorities described as “racially motivated violent extremism.” Police said he shot 11 Black and two white victims before surrendering to authorities in a rampage he broadcast live on the streaming platform Twitch. Later, he appeared before a judge in a paper medical gown and was arraigned on a murder charge. “It is my sincere hope that this individual, this white supremacist who just perpetrated a hate crime on an innocent community, will spend the rest of his days behind bars. And heaven help him in the next world as well,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul, speaking near the scene of the attack. The massacre sent shockwaves through an unsettled nation gripped with racial tensions, gun violence and a spate of hate crimes. In the day prior to the shooting, Dallas police said they were investigati...

  Changes are coming to New York’s controversial bail reform laws. The changes come in the state budget. Republicans say it’s not enough and progressives say it went too far, but a recently released poll of voters showed the state needed to do something. “In 2019, there was a major shake-up in New York state politics because the Democrats came to control the Senate,” SUNY Plattsburgh Political Science Professor Harvey Schantz said. The Democrats were also the majority in the Assembly and held the governor’s seat with then-governor Andrew Cuomo. “Elimination of cash bail is something the progressive Democrats wanted and it was put into law,” Schantz said. The New York Legislature passed bail reform in 2019 which eliminated cash bail and the judge’s discretion of setting bail to most misdemeanor and nonviolent crimes. The state says this is to keep people out of jail as they wait for their day in court. “As soon as that passed, law and order and the rise in crime became a political c...

  Police unions and Mayor Eric Adams ripped into Gov. Kathy Hochul’s planned fixes to New York’s controversial bail reform law through the negotiated state budget, saying they don’t go far enough and amount to “window dressing” “Although I commend them on steps they took towards dealing with public safety — something that people said was impossible for us to get done — but clearly, there’s more to be done” to clean up soaring crime in the Big Apple, Hizzoner said on Fox 5’s “Good Day New York” ahead of his 100th day in office. Big Apple police union leaders had more pointed critiques of the Albany criminal justice changes agreed to in the budget process announced by Hochul on Thursday. “New Yorkers should pay close attention to the words Gov. Hochul and the legislative leaders are using. Their priority is to make New Yorkers ‘feel safer,’ not to provide real public safety,” Police Benevolent Association president Pat Lynch said in a statement Friday. “Their proposed changes are pol...

  New York state lawmakers are closing in on an agreement that could expand the circumstances in which cash bail would be required to include charges like gun trafficking as well as alleged repeat offenses, a top Democrat in the state Senate on Tuesday said.  The development comes as lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul are close to putting the finishing touches on a broader state budget agreement, which had been expected to pass on Friday.  Democratic lawmakers who control both chambers of the state Legislature, as well as Gov. Kathy Hochul, have been under pressure to make changes to the 2019 bail law that largely ended cash bail requirements for many criminal charges. Advocates for the measure had contended the law was meant to keep low-income defendants out of jail for legnthy periods of time while awaiting trial.  But a national rise in violent crime has led to renewed concerns over public safety among voters in New York and spurred calls for changes ahead of the com...