Monthly Archives: March 2017

LETTER: Newark FOP Pres to AG Porrino – NJ Bail Reform – “We have a crisis on our hands – authority of police on the street diminished”

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In a bold move to fix New Jersey’s failing bail reform, Newark Fraternal Order of Police President James Stewart, Jr. wrote a letter on March 8, 2017 to Attorney General Christopher Porrino detailing the failures of bail reform and warning that “we have a crisis on our hands.“

US Bail Reform News was able to obtain a copy of the letter…

Now there are cops bringing in suspects for aggravated assaults, possession of weapons, for large amounts of narcotics, and those charges are being downgraded right there at the precinct by an on-scene Assistant Prosecutor. Instead of Warrants, the charges are going on a Summons, the prisoners being released with just a signature, and a promise they will be good from now on…These one-man crime waves can not keep being released back upon the community.

The cops out on the street, the first responders out there running toward danger, going after the bad guys, all know about Probable Cause, and they know about the elements of the crimes that lead to the charges levied against the suspects they encounter. It has been a system that has worked for decades and decades.

– James Stewart, Jr, President, Newark FOP Lodge #12

March 8, 2017

Mr. Christopher S. Porrino, New Jersey Attorney General

Dear Mr. Porrino,

I am writing to you today because I need help. I am writing to you today because the citizens of Newark need help. Bail Reform and Prosecutor Screening is running Newark off the tracks and everybody seems to be standing on the platform watching it happen. This simply can NOT be what was envisioned when this concept was on the drawing board.

The cops out on the street, the first responders out there running toward danger, going after the bad guys, all know about Probable Cause, and they know about the elements of the crimes that lead to the charges levied against the suspects they encounter. It has been a system that has worked for decades and decades.

Now things have changed. Now there are cops bringing in suspects for aggravated assaults, possession of weapons, for large amounts of narcotics, and those charges are being downgraded right there at the precinct by an on-scene Assistant Prosecutor. Instead of Warrants, the charges are going on a Summons, the prisoners being released with just a signature, and a promise they will be good from now on…

I have example after example, just here in Newark, of criminals being arrested, only to be released under Bail Reform, and getting arrested again within days. This creates more crime. This creates more VICTIMS.

  • Roger Thomas was arrested on 1/26/2017 for 2 church burglaries. He was released. On 2/6/2017 he was arrested again for burglarizing the same church on 2/2/2017. He was released again on 2/7/2017. He has been arrested at least 46 previous times.
  • Josh Winstead was arrested on 2/1/2017 lor burglary to auto and charged additionally with a crime from 1/12/2017. He was released. On 2/15/2017 he was arrested again for breaking into 3 more cars. He has been arrested more than 100 limes in New Jersey, North Carolina and Georgia
  • Martin Sanchez was slated on 1/27/2017 for burglary and possession of burglary tools in Harrison. On 2/13/2017 he was arrested again for burglary and obstructing in Newark. The next day, 2/14/2017, he was again arrested, this time in Kearny. He has at least 18 arrests.
  • Josh Nieves was arrested 1/13/2017 in Belleville for shoplifting. He was arrested again in Newark on 2/2/2017 for burglary. He has been arrested at least 42 prior times.
  • Amir Copeland recently made national news when his life was saved by a Newark Sergeant after he jumped into a river in an attempt to elude capture after a vehicle pursuit. On 1/20/2017 he was arrested for receiving stolen auto in Newark. On 2/3/2017 he was arrested for the same charge in Union. On 2/15/2017 he lead police in a chase through multiple jurisdictions in yet another stolen auto before crashing and jumping into the river.
  • Furad Fleming was arrested on 2/12/2017 for possession of 548 bags of heroin within a school zone and $380 was confiscated. On 2/23/2017 he was arrested for the same charges and 95 bags of heroin and $154 was confiscated. On 2/28/2017 he was identified as a suspect in a robbery. He has been arrested 14 times.

I believe the original intent of Bail Reform, at least as it was sold to the public, was to create the possibility that violent criminals could be held without bail. Instead, it has created a literal revolving door in the holding cell, putting habitual criminals right back on the street.

Is this what we want? Is this what the community we serve wants? This practice must be reevaluated and a better solution brought to the table.

The authority of the police in the street is being diminished. Radio cars are being tied up in the precinct awaiting call backs from on-call assistant prosecutors or judges during off hours, creating a backlog of calls for service from the citizens. Overtime is mounting for cops handling late assignments. Suspects are being released, potentially near victims that have identified them, creating a public safety issue. What message are we sending to law enforcement? What message are we sending to the citizens we are serving?

The cops work the street, 24/7, 365 days a year. The assistant prosecutors handle the courtroom side of things. The cops need probable cause, the attorneys are looking for beyond a reasonable doubt. We can not have the attorneys working along side the police officers while they have one eye down the road thinking about how the court case will go, the process is doomed to fail. The citizens will be the ones left to suffer.

Again, I ask for your help. We have a crisis on our hands. We have police officers being told everything they have learned, all their experience on the street, no longer matters. We can not continue to browbeat our men and women out on the street, have them stand by as charges are reduced, or simply dismissed, before the paperwork is even started, and then have career criminals walk out the door before the last report is signed.

Law enforcement has not asked for this. The community has not asked for this. It just leaves me one more question. Who did ask for this?

Thank you for your time. Should you need to speak to me directly, or have any inquiries regarding this issue, I am always available.

James Stewart, Jr., President, Newark FOP Lodge #12

Dog the Bounty Hunter and Beth Blast Christie, Bless Clarke

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Duane “Dog” and Beth Chapman from the reality TV shows Dog the Bounty Hunter and Dog and Beth: On the Hunt were guests in the Breitbart News Daily studios on Tuesday, talking about how the justice system had been under attack during the Obama administration and how they believe it is on the mend in the era of Donald Trump.

STRANAHAN: When you’re talking about this bail reform movement, what it means, and of course stop me if I’m wrong and tell me if I’m exaggerating — but it means in some cases criminals are being brought in and put right back on the street.

BETH: Within minutes.

DOG: Within minutes.

BETH: Literally the police officers are still inside doing paperwork when the perpetrator is basically let out the door.

DOG: Alleged perpetrator.

BETH: Mmmmm, okay, alleged.

STRANAHAN: And so when we’re talking about the dismantlement of law and order under Obama, this is what I’m talking about.

BETH: Yeah. There’s no teeth, law enforcement’s hands are basically tied. I think they’re far more reluctant to even arrest anybody because it takes them, like I said, more time to do the paperwork then it does to bring them down. But the bigger issue is there’s no accountability and there’s no deterrent, there’s no repercussion, there’s no one looking for these people when they fail to appear. Basically, they’re going to be clogging up the docket so bad there’ll be no efficiency whatsoever in our court systems. Christie went out and he duped his entire state basically and said, “This is only gonna cost a couple of million dollars.” The cost is so expensive now, it’s over $22 million. Most of the counties can’t even afford to implement this policy, and they’ve got small business people dying on the vine there and it’s counterproductive to the economy.

STRANAHAN: And how is letting those criminals back out on the streets working out for the poor?

DOG: Well of course the poor will be poor, but they’re stealing trying to get money.

BETH: But they’re releasing them back into the poor communities. They’re not releasing them into our communities. So in reality he’s re-victimizing the very people that he claims to be helping.

One topic discussed was the so-called “Parole Reform Movement,” which they say was bankrolled by billionaire institutional left funder George Soros, as well as leading libertarian funders the Koch Brothers. The ideologically driven approach to belittle justice has resulted in a revolving door for criminals, said the two bail enforcement agents.

BETH: The Koch Brothers, the Arnold Foundation, The Manhattan Project, the Innocence Project, you know there’s a lot of groups donating quite a bit of money into these things. Harvard donated $1 million, which is very disturbing to me — a school of high learning and you think that they would understand that, again, people aren’t in jail because they’re poor. And basically the most unnerving thing about this whole thing, that we have taken away the voice of the victims. The victims absolutely have no voice — and they have no protection. They think that these guys are gonna go to jail and they’re gonna stay in jail, and they’re safe at least for the night — but not in New Jersey.

DOG: And we’re not talking about graffiti or urinating in public — none of that. We’re talking about first degree burglary, domestic violence, rape of an intoxicated person.

BETH: — giving a gun to a known gang member…

As an example of this ideological influence, take Katharine Huffman, Board Chair of the bail reform movement group Justice Policy Institute, whose biography says:

Ms. Huffman began her legal career as a civil-rights litigator and Soros Justice Fellow at the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia.

Dog and Beth had harsh words for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie:

BETH: Christie’s been awful. He has drank the kool-aid, obviously. But, he’s destroying New Jersey. And not that New Jersey was crime-free to begin with, but now it’s so overrun with crime that you got police chiefs coming out, lieutenants coming out, you got Facebook popping up New Jersey’s bail reform failures. There are so many people so concerned. There was a police chief that basically came out and told his citizens, “I can’t keep you safe. I have to let these guys go by mandate.” And you get Christie on the line about it, or you get him on any type of a radio show or whatever, and he tries to blame the bail bondsman and say, “They’ve been picking on the poor…” If they’re poor, then how could they afford the bail bondsman to begin with?

On the other hand, they had high praise for Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, who was recently a speaker at the closing day of CPAC. Dog and Beth both appreciate Clarke’s approach to law and order, which they see as in line with the Trump presidency.

MARLOW: So let’s get into your connection with Sheriff Clarke. You’ve been a big advocate for him, he’s considering a Senate bid, talk to us about that.

DOG: Sheriff Clarke is strong law and order. A very fair man. He’s been the Sheriff of Milwaukee for many years, and we love him. And when you get that way, you go to one mountain and you get to the top, there’s another mountain to climb. So he’s the toughest Sheriff, he’s strong law and order. He needs not just to be in one state; we need him nationally.

Breitbart News recently recorded exclusive video interviews with Dog and Beth that will be the centerpiece of several stories related to the Bail Reform Movement by Breitbart lead investigative reporter Lee Stranahan.