With Gov. Kathy Hochul looking to make fresh changes to bail reform, lawmakers held a hearing in Albany Monday to take an in-depth look at crime statistics.

While there were different takeaways, it seems unlikely that the governor and Democrats in the legislature — who oppose any changes to bail reform — are going to agree.

In a rare public hearing about public safety, Democratic lawmakers made a point of saying they want to understand the cold hard facts before they make any more changes to the bail law and other criminal justice reforms they enacted in recent years.

What You Need To Know

  • After launching a crackdown on subway crime in October, Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hocul say the results show a 16% drop in crime in New York City

  • The initiative was launched before the election when Hochul was locked in a tight race with her Republican opponent, Lee Zeldin, who made crime his top issue

  • According to the NYPD, subway crime is the second lowest it has been since the 90s

“As policymakers, as members and as chairs of these committees, we take great pride in making data-driven decisions,” said state Senator Jamaal Bailey of the Bronx. “Not decisions based upon conjecture or sensationalism, data driven.”

But when it came time to actually present the data, it seemed like different agencies had their own statistics, which could be interpreted many different ways.

“Over the last decade from 2012 to 2021 statewide index crimes declined 24%,” said Rossana Rosado, commissioner of the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services. “While data from 2022 are still being reported to DCJS from the more than 500 law enforcement agencies in New York, we do know that reported crime increased through the first three quarters of 2022.”

Members of the NYPD, for example, parroted some of what Mayor Eric Adams talked about last week in his State of the City address: that repeat offenders are the problem.

“Our data shows that there are a small number of individuals who cause a significant amount of harm,” said NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey. “It is these individuals who we need to work together to address.”

Shoplifting usually results in a charge of burglary in the third degree, a crime that is no longer bail eligible under the reforms.

Some experts believe the result has been a huge increase in the amount of shoplifting and theft.

“Every borough saw a substantial increase last year,” said Michael Lipetri, the NYPD’s chief of crime control strategies. “The Bronx was up 63% in shoplifting complaints. And again, that’s larcenies, grand larcenies and larcenies that then become robberies. Manhattan was up 44%, and Brooklyn was up 49%. All compared to the highest numbers we had ever seen in 2021.”

Hochul and Adams are aligned with wanting more changes to bail reform, but Democratic lawmakers oppose them. And that will likely lead to a big clash over the next few weeks.