A lobbyist for the trade association that represents the Delaware County sheriff said that the recent state legislative session was quiet ahead of the upcoming November elections.
State Sherriff’s Association Associate Counsel Alex M. Wilson said to the Delaware County Public Safety Committee at its monthly meeting Monday, Aug. 5 that overall, the session was “pretty tepid when it comes to criminal justice.”
“I think there was some trepidation on the part of legislators to do anything that would rock the boat too much prior to November,” he said.
The SSA represents the sheriff and his or her direct appointees — the general administrator and the undersheriff. Wilson is the registered lobbyist for the association with the state legislature.
Wilson said he anticipates that post-election, the legislators will be “a bit more aggressive” in terms of criminal justice reform.
He said he noticed an emphasis on decarcerating this past year — specifically the elder parole bill and fair and timely parole bills, which were pushed in tandem.
According to Senate Bill S307, introduced in January 2023, the fair and timely parole bill would allow release on parole to any incarcerated individual appearing before the parole board unless the parole case record can demonstrate that the individual is at risk to violate the law again when released.
Essentially the bill would flip the current parole process in which the incarcerated individual must prove their ability to be released to the parole board.
According to Senate Bill S2423, also introduced in January 2023, the elder parole bill would amend the executive law in relation to parole eligibility for certain incarcerated individuals who have served 15-year sentences and are age 55 and older.
Wilson said that he doesn’t see decarcerating as an entirely “bad thing.”
“We just want to make sure it’s done smartly to the benefit of your communities, so that the people who honestly shouldn’t be out there hurting other people are kept in protective custody,” he said.
He said that the SSA also has recognized the small numbers of recruits for certain civil service positions, and something the association has been pushing is reviving the criminal justice profession by “changing some of the antiquated civil service rules.”
He said that it could help recruit younger people, but he believes it is also a public relations issue that needs to be fixed, citing the need for a “change of attitude” regarding law enforcement.
He said another important issue for the association members is bail reform — he wants legislators to consider a more flexible standard where a judge could consider an individual risk of flight in conjunction with other criteria when making a decision about whether to set bail or remand on a trial-to-trial basis.
He said that the statute now permits setting bail on repeat misdemeanors, but he sees that change as “useless” without allowing judges to make a more “holistic determination” about whether somebody is fit for pretrial restriction.
“I think if we could get one thing, if we had one wish, that would probably be close to the top of the list,” he said.
He said that civil service requirement changes would be the more achievable goal that could garner bipartisan approval.
Delaware County Sherriff Craig S. DuMond gave the committee a report on the county corrections facility and the sheriff’s office.
He said that it has been a “very busy” summer so far with an increase in DWI arrests — something he said the department is upping stops and increasing enforcement to prevent.
DuMond said that five new corrections officer cadets graduated last month.
“That’s helping to fill some of those open positions and, matter of fact, even on the correction side we’re the best we’ve been in a long time,” he said.
He said that at any given time there are around 90 inmates in the county jail, which he said brought the county $152,900 in revenue in July.