Left-wing NYC Mayor de Blasio links new bail reform law — pushed by progressive politicians — to city's recent crime surge

Left-wing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio linked the state's new bail reform law to a recent crime surge in the city, the New York Post reported.

The law, which requires judges to set most criminal defendants free without posting bail during their pretrial phase, was championed by progressive politicians and went into effect Jan. 1.

What did de Blasio say?

“We had, for six years, steady decreases in crime across the board. There's not a whole lot of other environmental things that have changed recently," de Blasio told WNYC-FM radio host Brian Lehrer about new data showing crime has spiked since the new laws, the paper said. “It sort of stands out like a sore thumb that this is the single biggest new thing in the equation and we saw an extraordinary jump."

According to the Post, the mayor added: “Of course there's always a possibility this is plain statistical variation, that happens sometimes. But I think it's pretty clear that there's only one new major piece in the equation."

In addition, de Blasio re-emphasized his support for giving judges the authority to incarcerate defendants awaiting trial if they're dangerous to the public, the paper said.

"I think judicial discretion should be clarified so that there are very clear checks and balances, so that we avoid any inkling of bias entering into the process," the mayor added in the interview, the Post said, "but I think a system predicated only on the question of flight risk misses the fact that there are some individuals who are just consistently, by their own actions, and by the proof of due process, consistently creat[ing] a threat to their neighbors."

What else?

There have been more than a few controversies surrounding the state's new bail reform law since it's been enacted:

• A woman was arrested New Year's Eve — her third arrest in less than a week — after two previous arrests in connection to a pair of attacks. Tiffany Harris allegedly slapped three Orthodox Jewish women in Crown Heights in what police say was an anti-Semitic hate crime, but after her release she allegedly punched a 35-year-old woman in the face — and was again released without bail.
• A man who was convicted three times of robbing banks was released on his own recognizance after being accused of robbing a fourth.
• A judge allowed six men charged with possession of millions of dollars' worth of fentanyl to be released without bail.

In addition, the Post reported in a separate story that a Long Island man arrested after a fatal drunken wreck Jan. 12 bragged to cops, "The laws changed, I'll be out tomorrow." Indeed, Jordan Randolph went free the next day, the paper said, adding that the 40-year-old also told police the crash was "just a DWI." Randolph was indicted on 24 counts for vehicular manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, and numerous other charges in the crash that killed 27-year-old Jonathan Flores-Maldonado, the Post noted.