A New York Republican has demanded that Gov. Kathy Hochul scrap “disastrous criminal justice policies” that lead to cop killings and endanger citizens, The Post has learned.
Rep. Mike Lawler said in a letter to Hochul Wednesday that the governor should “repeal New York’s idiotic cashless bail policies,” reimpose the “dangerousness” standard when setting bail — and fire every member of the state’s parole board for repeatedly releasing cop killers onto the streets.
Lawler also urged Hochul to enact a new law — similar to one he had introduced as a state lawmaker in New York — that would mandate lifetime prison sentences without parole for first and second-degree murderers convicted of killing police officers, peace officers, first responders and correctional officers.
“New Yorkers do not feel safe. Under Democratic leadership in Albany, crime has gone unchecked,” Lawler told the governor.
“It is past time for action and for meaningful change. I urge you to address these failures and reverse course to allow New Yorkers to feel secure in their communities.”
On Friday, the uncle of slain NYPD officer Jonathan Diller confronted Hochul outside the wake for his nephew — who was shot to death by a suspected ex-convict during a traffic stop in Queens — and she left shortly after.
“His blood is on your hands,” the mourning uncle shouted at the stone-faced governor, a source told The Post. “We don’t want you here. You’re not wanted here. You have blood on your hands. If you want to do something, change the bail laws.”
Another source told The Post that the governor had a “short, respectful conversation” with the bereaved family for “10 to 15 minutes” and was “not asked to leave” — but attendees burst into applause as she exited the Massapequa Funeral Home on Long Island on the second day of Diller’s viewing.
Grieving wife Stephanie Diller made an impassioned plea to Empire State lawmakers at her husband’s funeral the following day, asking: “How many more police officers and how many more families need to make the ultimate sacrifice before we start protecting them?”
Hochul slammed her fellow Albany Democrats earlier this month over what she said were “absurd” limits to the state’s cash bail that applied the “least restrictive conditions” and put dangerous criminal defendants back on the street before trials.
“I think everyone knows my positions on the bail laws,” she told reporters Sunday, two days after her icy reception at the NYPD officer’s wake. “I’m the one who’s been trying to make the changes to go back to where it was.”
New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Democrat, has already thrown cold water on the move to increase penalties as part of the state’s budget negotiations, telling reporters that doing so would not “ever [be] a deterrent on crime.”
Last year, Hochul in a budget agreement helped remove a standard that forced judges to consider just the “least restrictive” means to ensure dangerous offenders would show up in court for hearings.
But New York remains the only US state where judges are barred from considering the “dangerousness” of criminal defendants and must only determine whether they are a flight risk when setting bail.
Attacks on police officers surged in 2023, with a record 5,363 cops injured on the job and 1,286 injured during fights with suspects.
Felony assaults on trains and at stations also hit an almost three-decade high, with 570 occurring that year, according to the NYPD.
According to a March study of New York’s bail reform outside the city by John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 66% of people with a recent arrest who were released under the policy were re-arrested within two years.
Lawler in his letter also drew attention to the 38 convicts convicted of murdering police officers who have been released from New York prisons since 2017, including Scott Cobb and Patrick Bannon, who also gunned down an officer in Queens in 1992.
“The glaring crime statistics, the lack of security in our community, and the lack of support given to our law enforcement officers is unquestionably creating problems of morale and retention at a time when we need them most,” he added.
“These public servants put their lives on the line every day, and they deserve the full support they need in order to do their jobs and keep us all safe,” Lawler said, citing statistics from New York City’s Police Benevolent Association that 200 cops are leaving the NYPD every month.
Hochul’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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