Chronicle asked Sheriff LaFarr & D.A. Jordan: Is there a crime wave? How is it all changing?

By Zander Frost, Chronicle Staff Writer

A shooting last Sunday in the parking lot of the Walmart on Route 9 in Queensbury. An armed robbery at the Cumberland Farms on Quaker Road. Dozens of guns stolen from Calamity Jane’s on Dix Avenue in Hudson Falls.

In Saratoga Springs at 3 a.m., an off-duty Rutland cop shot multiple times in an exchange with an alleged assailant and by Saratoga Springs police.

The Chronicle reached out to area law enforcement professionals and asked: Is there a crime wave?

Warren County Sheriff Jim LaFarr and Washington County District Attorney Tony Jordan were willing to talk about it.
Sheriff LaFarr said, “I think generally, we live in a very wonderful bubble. And speaking from a law enforcement perspective, we have a great relationship and connection with the community. There’s a mutual respect.

“But I can’t say that that same level of respect and general healthy public safety is everywhere.

“You can travel a little further south, and Saratoga Springs, it’s no secret, they’re dealing with some legitimate violence. Legitimate gun violence has moved into their city, and drugs have moved into their city.”

In Washington County, D.A. Jordan said, “We’re seeing a lot of violence, but it’s domestic violence, as compared to random or stranger violence. We’re not seeing what you read about in our urban centers, where it’s drive-by shootings, or stabbings or assaults.”

Mr. Jordan said a challenge for many DA offices in the state in the discovery process is redacting names so as not to publicly identify witnesses and victims.

“We don’t have that same challenge because probably 75 to 80% of our victims or witnesses, the defendant knows,” Mr. Jordan said.

He said it’s a socioeconomic challenge. “Drugs or poverty seem to be major drivers of sort of a common thread throughout much of our criminal system.”

•
The type of violence and street crime that has crept as far north as Saratoga has yet to reach this area, each official said separately.

Sheriff LaFarr said he’s not sure why this hasn’t spread north to places like Lake George Village in the summer time.
Does the sheriff see increased risk for violence day-to-day locally?

“It would be irresponsible for me to say yes. I don’t know,” Sheriff LaFarr said.

But “I think self accountability, you know, I think that people need to be aware of their surroundings.”

“Life in general, since COVID started, people are more on edge,” he added.

“I would just encourage people to do their best, to be their very best selves, good citizens take care of one another.

“If you’re driving on a highway and somebody cuts you off, let it go. And just do what you can to minimize adverse interactions with anyone.”

Mr. Jordan said with the violent crime in the Albany area and now the Queensbury Walmart shooting, “you would like to think that that spread north is not indicative of a surge coming. But you can’t really ignore the coverage of it.”

What about the idea that there’s always been crime locally but right now people are noticing it?

Mr. Jordan said when he became Washington County DA in 2013, the Division of Criminal Justice Services “took great pride in sharing that New York was the safest large state in America, and the fifth safest state overall. And that’s not true anymore.

“So, yes, there has always been crime, but we have always been able to talk about how those numbers are declining. And we’re not seeing that.”

He said the “current reality” can’t be ignored for crime to go away.

“I don’t think anyone accepted that in the 70’s or 80’s and early 90’s in New York City. People worked hard to address that,” he said.

In terms of security systems and locking gates and doors, D.A. Jordan said, “I’m also a hopeless romantic, and I would hate to think we ever reached that point here. So my answer may be colored by that unwillingness — but we’re not seeing that yet.”

Sheriff LaFarr: ‘There are offenders reoffending’ due to change that came with bail reform

Does Warren County Sheriff Jim LaFarr think criminal justice reforms are making it more difficult to keep the public safe?

“Definitely,” he said. “The two that are the biggest for us are discovery and bail reform.”

“I know in our region that there are offenders who are reoffending, and who would not be reoffending…if not for the legislative changes that came along with bail reform,” he said.

He said he understands the need for changes to the discovery process, but said it could have been “worked with a little more reasonably.”

“The pressure that it puts on the District Attorney’s office to gather as much information as possible following an arrest and arraignment — some of those timelines are just really unreasonable,” he said.

He said if the DA is required to certify that they will move forward with a prosecution by a certain date, “you’ve got to back that up another five days for us, because we have to gather, collect, review, approve, document everything and get our package to them.”

“So it puts really a great burden on our staff.” he said. —Zander Frost

Copyright © 2022 Lone Oak Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved