Matt Szalkowski
Prosecutor, Candidate for 142nd Assembly District
We Must Stand with Law Enforcement
for the Safety of our Community
There is an anti-police sentiment that has overtaken Albany. It has left our most vulnerable in danger. Justice should not be a wedge issue, but the politicians in Albany have made it one. They have pitted police against the community that they have sacrificed so much to protect and serve. The Legislature passed these sweeping changes without any hearings, investigations, or input from law enforcement professionals.
When Albany passed the Green Light Law giving drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants, they made it a felony for law enforcement to share information with federal officers. The Bail Reform package jammed into the Governor’s budget stripped Judges of discretion and altered rules on discovery so severely that it made witnesses even more scared to come forward.
Under one-party rule, Albany has dusted off the entire “wish list” of anti-police and anti-public safety measures. The recent amendments to the disastrous 2019 bail and discovery reforms proved that the politicians in Albany have no idea what they are doing when it comes to policing and public safety. Like the most recent policing “reforms”, no hearings were conducted in 2019.
Bail Reform, repeal of 50-a (releasing personnel records to the public), and the myriad of the ideologically-driven laws passed in the last two years have not made our communities safe. Instead, crime rates are soaring and the bodies are piling up across the state. The police are hand-cuffed from protecting our communities with fear of politicians and government officials sandbagging them for merely doing the jobs that they were asked to do.
And it’s not over yet as more “reforms” continue to be recommended – such as forbidding police from carrying firearms or making officers personally liable in civil suits. This is an attempt to destroy the profession, which increases the risk to their personal safety and threatens the stability of their families. How are officers supposed to do their jobs while wondering if a bogus claim can result in the officer losing their house during a frivolous lawsuit?
I believe strongly in investing into our communities that have long been neglected. But let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that we can solve the problems of the past while blaming our police in the present. Instead of ‘defunding the police’, let’s actually fund them – let’s pay to increase and improve training, including de-escalation techniques. You will not find a single police officer who would oppose such training. The answer is not attacking police and their families; the answer is putting them in a position to succeed. Every community would benefit from that.
Matthew S. Szalkowski
Candidate for Assembly District 142
![..the answer is putting [police] in a position to succeed](http://images.e2ma.net/images/spacer.gif){kind=small}
