MANCHESTER, N.H. – Manchester Mayor Jay Ruais on Wednesday invited members of the press to the Aldermanic Chambers at City Hall to reiterate his desire for near-term legislation on bail reform.
Ruais called the press conference after hearing from representatives of the 1269 Café, a local organization that helps the city’s homeless population, telling him that they have not seen improvements regarding the city’s amount of repeat criminal offenders.
While the mayor stated that overall crime may be going down in the city, he added that so far in 2024, the Manchester Police have arrested 817 people and 306 were released on bail, while out of the 4,529 arrests during the last 12 months total, there have been 1,178 out on bail.
Although Manchester Police Department Assistant Chief Peter Marr said that the city’s police officers are dealing with the large volume of repeat offenders in a professional manner, dealing with the total amount of repeat offenders takes up a significant amount of time and resources.
“The police have done everything they can do to keep the city safe, but we’re being inundated by repeat offenders,” said Ruais.
The New Hampshire General Court is already reviewing bills addressing the issue of personal recognizance bail, such as SB 252 and HB 318, and Ruais praised ongoing efforts to examine the issue, also reiterating that his administration is willing to work with the legislature and governor to expedite action surrounding the issue.
He added that he feels that it is appropriate to eliminate personal recognizance bail for any individual accused of a felony and if someone is arrested while out on personal recognizance bail then they would have to appear before a judge for bail on the new offense.
For legislators and others elsewhere in the state who feel this issue is an issue for Manchester and other cities, he stated that the impact of crime in the Queen City has a ripple effect on its neighbors.
“A thriving Manchester helps the state of New Hampshire,” he said. “If Manchester is being hurt, that hurts our ability to engage in commerce and bring dollars back to the state.”
Ruais also encouraged mandatory assistance programs for those arrested due to crimes related to drug addiction, noting his personal history in recovery from alcoholism and the importance that being held accountable by others had for his own recovery.
The press conference echoed a press conference he held in Concord on the first day of his term stressing the urgency of action regarding the issue of bail reform.
“The safety of our citizens is non-negotiable,” he said.
Later, Devon Chaffee, Executive Director of the ACLU of New Hampshire, released the following statement.
“We are disappointed that Mayor Ruais is advocating to unnecessarily incarcerate Granite Staters who are presumed innocent under the law just because they do not have enough money in their wallet to afford cash bail.
The facts are crystal clear: data continues to show that since bail reform was implemented in 2018, crime and arrest rates have dropped significantly each year, including in Manchester.
We continue to urge lawmakers invested in strengthening our bail system to adopt current bipartisan proposals that would address concerns raised without violating Granite Staters’ civil liberties, like creating a real time bail tracking system and creating an avenue for magistrate judges to preside over bail hearings.”
