County Attorney, Rochester Police Chief hail recently passed bail reform bill

Rochester Police Chief Gary Boudreau and Strafford County Attorney Emily Garod (Courtesy photos)

The bail reform bill signed by New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte on Tuesday heralds a new level of accountability for criminals who all too often break the law, and then commit another crime while out on bail.
"Over the last eight years law enforcement has seen too many defendants back on the streets before officers have finished their arrest paperwork," Rochester Police Chief Gary Boudreau told The Rochester Voice on Thursday. "The men and women of the Rochester Police Department are thankful to the governor and lawmakers for standing up for the safety of New Hampshire residents."
The bill doesn't center around the establishment of high cash bails for offenders with limited means, but more about the justice system being allowed to keep suspects in jail until their bail hearing before a judge.
The controversial bail reform bill of 2018 didn't rely on a bail hearing to decide whether or not a suspect should be released on personal recognizance, but rather a magistrate, which often put the public at risk, according to Strafford County Attorney Emily Garod.
"I was practicing before the bail reform of 2018 and remember the change," she said. "It was difficult to get people held. A lot more were released on bail. We saw an increase in people who were picking up charges that were out on bail, including dangerous offenses. This is a welcome change. Holding dangerous people is very important."
Garod said one of the most frustrating situations from the failed 2018 bill was having to explain to a victim why the perpetrator of a crime against them was released after they'd earlier committed a dangerous crime.
"That was a difficult conversation to have to explain to a victim," she said.
House Bill-592, which goes into effect Sept. 21, eliminates the magistrates and reduces the burden of proof to let a suspect out on personal recognizance.
"You used to have to prove to a judge they were a "danger," Garod said. "Now you don't."
The Rochester Voice reported in 2019 on one Rochester man who was arrested six times and still released on personal recognizance, only to be released again.
Soon after the bill was signed the ACLU of New Hampshire called out Gov. Ayotte for the untrue and irresponsible interpretation of the state's bail laws as a "failed social experiment."
In a released statement they claimed that bail reform, the commonly-used phrase for the bipartisan law that reformed New Hampshire's bail system in 2018, has saved taxpayers money while seeing drastically lower crime rates every year for the six years following its implementation."
Gov. Ayotte viewed the 2018 law differently.
"The broken bail law was a failed social experiment that created a revolving door for violent criminals in our state"" she said after signing the bill. "Today, we slammed that revolving door shut."