Serving New Hyde Park, Floral Park, Garden City Park, North Hills, Manhasset Hills and North New Hyde Park
$1.50
Friday, September 30, 2022
Vol. 71, No. 39
N E W H Y D E PA R K
GUIDE TO MINEOLA STREET FAIR PAGES 25-36
NHP MAN PLEADS GUILTY SUOZZI ENDORSES TO DRUNK DRIVING ZIMMERMAN PAGE 2
PAGE 6
Bail reform’s minor impact on rearrests State report shows slight rise in repeat offenders in N.Y. since ‘19 BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z New York’s bail reform laws, enacted at the beginning of 2020, have not resulted in significant changes in rearrest rates, according to a new report from the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services. Statistics showed that outside of New York City, rearrest rates in 2019 were 16%, followed by 23% in 2020 and 21% in 2021. The city’s 2019 rearrest rate was 19%, followed by 22% in 2020 and 20% in 2021, according to the statistics. Additionally, roughly 80% of suspects who were arrested throughout the state over the three-year analysis were not rearrested within six months of their initial arrest. Out of the more than 147,000 releases throughout the state, outside of New York City criminal courts, nearly 29,000 individuals, or roughly 19% were rearrested, according to statistics. Roughly 12% of the rearrests were those who committed violent felonies, with more than 35% identified as individuals who committed non-violent felonies and 52% as people who committed misdemeanors, statistics showed. Local officials have claimed that the laws, aside from allowing crimi-
nals to conduct repeat crimes throughout Nassau County, have resulted in many individuals skipping their court dates. Statistics showed that, outside of New York City, only 17% of more than 61,000 individuals failed to appear to court in 2019, with that percentage increasing to 18% two years later. The statistics also showed an overall decrease in total arraignments throughout the state since 2019. In New York City, more than 97,286 arraignments were reported in 2019, with that figure decreasing to 57,160 during the first three quarters of 2021. Throughout the rest of the state, a total of 61,587 arraignments were reported in 2019, with that number decreasing to 38,176 during the first nine months of 2021, according to statistics. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said earlier this year that there is a “state of lawlessness” throughout New York and it has resulted in repeat offenders coming back to Nassau County to commit crimes. “We have to get serious about changing the laws so that we don’t give criminals more rights than victims,” Blakeman said. “Unfortunately, that’s the way it is now. We’ve got people committing crime after crime and Continued on Page 50
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MANHASSET-LAKEVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT
Firefighters from the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department contain a house fire in North Hills. See story on page 11.
NHP man charged in alleged fraud scheme BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z
New York City out of millions of dollars in connection with public conA New Hyde Park man was tracts to perform work at homeless among five individuals charged with shelters throughout the city, officials money laundering conspiracy as announced on Wednesday. Federal prosecutors from the part of an alleged scheme to defraud
U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York said Irfan Bajwa, 42, was one of five individuals in the alleged scheme that would use bank accounts to receive proContinued on Page 51
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