The state legislature can sometimes be big on ideas but small on implementation. Far too often, in an effort to right a wrong or improve something that needed improvement, the legislature goes with wholesale change, rather than taking its time with baby steps or fully investigating the impacts. This is why small business owners fret about the regulations and costs of doing business in the Empire State and school boards and county legislatures pull their hair out over unfunded mandates.
This all-or-nothing approach to governance has also had a negative impact on public safety in New York. In recent years, the state has instituted a variety of changes to criminal justice, with the primary goal being social justice reform, that have had, in many circumstances, unwelcome consequences despite being well-intentioned. I know that from listening to Niagara County dispatch most of my waking hours — the airwaves can be quite busy at times and I routinely hear the same names and the same crimes.
That’s more than an anecdotal observation: Within Niagara County vehicle thefts are 31% higher than they were just five years ago while larcenies remain up about 19%; homicides have grown from four in 2019 to an average of 14 in the four years that followed; and, since 2019, there have been more than 1,400 repeat offenders booked in the county. Many criminals now feel emboldened. Niagara County isn’t alone in that regard.
If you want one of the most visceral examples, things have been so b.