The “year of the perp” as some New York police are calling it, continues to look like a disaster. Earlier this month Jazz wrote about a burglary suspect who was arrested, then released (because authorities couldn’t hold him under the new bail law), then arrested again a day later after he committed another burglary. Nearly the same thing happened with a serial bank robber this month.

But the NY Post continued to catalog more examples of this sort of thing in just the past week. Yesterday the Post reported on the release of six men caught preparing to distribute millions of dollars of fentanyl:

When officers on the task force entered the apartment, they saw the six suspects bundling powder-filled glassine envelopes stamped with the word “fire,” the special narcotics prosecutor said in a press release. Hundreds of thousands of the envelopes packed with the powder were spread across two tables and overflowing from boxes in the apartment, authorities said. The drugs, which have a street value of about $7 million, were believed to be headed onto the streets of New York and New England, the prosecutor’s office said… Despite the volume of the drugs seized, all six suspects were cut loose at their arraignments in Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday morning.

I wonder how many people would have died if this stuff had hit the streets? No matter, apparently. When the six men were released they had a cheering squad of supporters.

Today the NY Post published an even worse story about a DWI suspect named Jordan Randolph who was arrested after a fatal crash and told the cops he’d be out in a day:

Details of the boozy bust were revealed Thursday as Randolph was hit with a 24-count indictment for vehicular manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide and a slew of other charges in the crash that killed 27-year-old Jonathan Flores-Maldonado. “As Jonathan Flores was left taking his last breaths and dying, this defendant was hurling expletives at both officers and EMTs who were trying to render him aid,” Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Jacob DeLauter said during Randolph’s arraignment. “At one point, the defendant completely trivialized this deadly collision by stating to police, ‘F–k you, January 1st the laws changed. I’ll be out tomorrow and I will come find you,’” DeLauter said. “He also stated to an EMT that when he gets out, he’ll come find her.”

Randolph has 12 prior convictions including three previous DWIs. He was also arrested on January 1st, just 11 days before the fatal crash that killed Jonathan Flores, but of course he was released after that arrest without bail.

The victim’s family said the suspect should never have been on the road. Earlier in the January, Randolph was released with an appearance ticket for allegedly interfering with his ignition interlock device. A Suffolk judge claimed his hands were tied and released him with no bail despite six felony convictions, six misdemeanor convictions, and five failures to appear in court. After his release, Randolph allegedly drove drunk again, at speeds of more than 130 mph, and was involved in a crash that claimed the life of Flores-Maldonado, a SUNY-Buffalo graduate. “He was the one that was mowed down on the damn highway,” said Lillian Flores, the victim’s mother.

Was the idea behind bail reform to allow criminals with long records to continue to create mayhem while they away trial? That seems to be what it is accomplishing in a lot of these cases. As Jazz noted two days ago, this isn’t the only problem with the new law, but it’s the most visible one. How long are New York residents going to watch this happen before they demand changes?