Exclusive: Alfred Police Chief talks about new bail law in a college town

During a thirty-nine minute interview with Alfred Police Chief Paul Griffith Tuesday afternoon, he unloaded his concerns about a new law that takes effect January 1, 2020 regarding when police can demand a court arraignment and whether or not bail can be set. Griffith oversees a college town that is home to Alfred State College and Alfred University. Beginning next year, some of the crimes that won't warrant an arraignment or bail:

1. Aggravated vehicular assault
2. Criminally Negligent Homicide
3. Manslaughter in the second-degree
4. Criminal sale of a controlled substance in or near a school zone.

During the interview, Griffith said:
"90% of the time when we arraign someone here in Alfred was because the crime warranted it...somebody you don't want out on the street. We arrest you and don't feel you are safe to go back on the street...we call the judge. If we thought you were gonna return to court, we would write a (court) appearance ticket...but if we thought, hey, this person is a 'flight risk' and they haven't shown up for court in the past...we call the judge. Now, we don't have that discretion...now pretty much we bring them in...and these crime can be pretty bad - now, we're releasing them out to the public. Once this gets out to the public...once this gets around that people are gonna be able to do this and not go to jail...there is nothing to hold them accountable, immediately. I see crime possibly going up...because they'll think, hey, if I do something bad enough, I can just go home to Brooklyn, Pittsburgh,  wherever and it's gonna be tough for us to grab ahold of them.
Chief Griffith added, "this seems to be counter-productive. It's gonna have an impact, I mean, why wouldn't it? The other problem we have in Alfred and always have had...nobody is from Alfred...they're all from someplace else, so, talk about a flight risk...yeah.