A bipartisan group of elected officials on Long Island on Tuesday called on Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state legislature to tighten up New York’s controversial cashless bail law.

While Republicans, including gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, have long made toughening the bail laws a top priority amid spikes in crime, frustrated suburban Democrats joined the cause by pressuring members of their own party in Albany to fix its shortcomings.

“This isn’t a Democratic or Republican issue. It’s about the safety of our residents,” said Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy, a Democrat and past president of the New York State Conference of Mayors, who attended the press conference in Garden City.

Kennedy said too many recidivist criminals are ending up back in the streets following arrests.

He said an accused thief was recently arrested two times in two days in Freeport.

The defendant was released from custody after allegedly stealing a car, and then stealing another vehicle the next day. The suspect jumped into Freeport Creek to try to escape officers, which required the use of a helicopter and other resources to arrest him.

“Grand larcenies are out of control. Give judges the discretion to detain repeat offenders,” Kennedy said.

“We need to all get-together and adjust these bail reform laws in the near future.” 

Other Democrats who participated in the event included Village of Thomaston Mayor Steven Weinberg and Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams also has said more tweaks are needed to the bail law.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, said the elected officials — regardless of party affiliation — joined forces with the goal of “protecting our communities, protecting our neighborhoods, and protecting our constituents’ homes.”

“In every part of this state, there is a criminal pandemic that has made us all less safe. If someone goes to your home and burglarizes your home tonight because you’re out at a parent-teacher conference or you’re out to dinner, that person, if they are arrested that night, will be out the next day. ….It’s over and over and over again. This is insane, and we’ve got to stop it,” Blakeman said Tuesday.

“We need the governor and the state legislator to go into session tomorrow. We need them to say and to act that they will stop this insanity, that they will repeal cashless bail.”

Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly, a Republican who last year defeated her Democratic opponent, state Sen. Todd Kaminsky, a former federal prosecutor who voted for bail reform, said “criminals are emboldened” because of the lax bail law.

“Extreme bail and discovery laws have made the job of prosecutors and law enforcement more difficult. I have a difficult time keeping prosecutors. They’re overburdened. More importantly, these changes have made New Yorkers and residents of Nassau County less safe,” said Donnelly.

“We need people to call on their state senators and state assembly members and give them a very simple message: these laws need to be changed today. Restore judicial discretion. I’m not asking for mandatory bail on every case. I’m asking for the opportunity to make an argument when we think bail should be set in a particular case.”

Zeldin, who has made scrapping the cashless bail law a key plank in his campaign against Democratic incumbent Hochul, welcomed the support from local officials.

“Every day is groundhog’s day in Kathy Hochul’s New York. We see time and time again violent criminals released on cashless bail only to victimize more innocent New Yorkers. The revolving door of justice must come to an end, and cashless bail must be repealed,” the Long Island congressman said.

“To take back our streets, Judges must have the discretion to weigh dangerousness, the seriousness of the offense, prior convictions, flight risk, and more.”  

Hochul defended tweaks to the bail law she pushed for and approved as part of the state budget in April.

“Governor Hochul’s top priority is to keep New Yorkers safe, which is why she worked with the legislature earlier this year to crack down on gun crimes and repeat offenders and further expand the types of cases where judges have the discretion to set bail,” Hochul spokesman Avi Small said Tuesday.

“The Governor continues to work every day with law enforcement and local officials to improve the criminal justice system, combat violence, and strengthen public safety across New York.”

Her office also pointed to state data showing that shootings are down 35% in Nassau County, which US News and World Reports labeled the safest community in America for three consecutive years.

She previously said bail amendments approved earlier this year hit the “sweet spot” and that there was no need to review the law again until the legislature convenes in January — after the November 8 election.  

The revisions allow judges to set bail for defendants in some cases charged with repeat offenses, hate crimes, and gun-related charges and also consider whether someone’s criminal record makes them likely to do “harm” if released.

She also has blamed judges for misapplying the law.

The goal of the cashless bail law, initially approved by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Democratic-run Assembly and Senate in 2019, was to stop defendants from being detained simply because they were too poor to post bail.

But critics said there were unintended consequences that lawmakers ignored.

“Some of the legislators I’ve spoken to were not familiar with the details of the bail law they approved,” Kennedy, the Freeport mayor said.

Baxter Estates Mayor Nora Haagenson, a registered independent who is president of the Nassau County Villages Officials Associations, said the “seriously flawed” bail law “has tilted in favor of the criminal over the victim” and the legislature “must act to correct this untenable situation.”

She said crimes flourish because “no incarceration is expected.”

The legislative leaders, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins (D-Yonkers) and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), have defended bail reform.