Decision 2024: Cooney and VanBrederode talk crime and safety

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — With just five weeks until Election Day, News10NBC is going one-on-one with State Senator Jeremy Cooney and his Republican opponent Jim VanBrederode to discuss an issue on the minds of many voters: crime and safety.

While crime in our area is down compared to the past few years, those years were historic highs.  Both candidates seem to agree that there’s still a lot of work to be done. 

“If you’re trying to buy a home in a city neighborhood and you don’t feel safe letting your kids wait for the bus, then we’re letting you down,” says NYS Senator Jeremy Cooney (D-Rochester).

His opponent, Jim VanBrederode, a former Gates Police Chief, pointed to the current state of security measures in stores as an example that things have gone too far.

“We now have concrete barriers in front of all of our stores, we have blue light cameras in the parking lots,  we have security guards at the front door. You go to get toothpaste and you’ve got to get the associate to unlock the toothpaste. This is what we face every day now because we’ve gone way too far on not being able to take off the streets those that are not going to stop re-offending,” VanBrederode says.

VanBrederode believes many of the criminal justice reforms that went into place in 2021 have had a negative impact on the community.

“They (democratic majority) literally went through the whole criminal justice system and made massive radical changes to create a restorative justice model, they literally touched everything from the juvenile justice system, the adult system, the parole system, the prisons, rules within the prison, to our district attorneys’ offices and it really has sent the criminal justice system into a complete tailspin,” he says. 

Senator Cooney defends his work on bail reform legislation.

“Often times when we talk about legislation there’s a different effect upstate then there is downstate so, we want to evaluate how bail or parole or other types of public safety initiatives have an impact on our community. For me, I am very proud of the work we’ve done over the past 4 years to tweak or amend the bail reform legislation that was voted on before I was even elected to office by the way, to make sure that it was working better,” he says.

Cooney says that work includes adding more than 40 crimes to the list of those that judges can set bail for.

“Now, whether they use that tool, that’s in their discretion,” Cooney says.

Jennifer Lewke, News10NBC: “There have been so many changes over the last several years, is it possible judges are not exactly sure and there’s not a lot precedent set so they air on the side of caution in using those changes?”

Jeremy Cooney: “Yeah, and that’s where training comes into play. I think the legislature, something that we could do is to put resources behind more training.”

VanBrederode disagrees.

“If we have judges out there that don’t understand the law, these are people with law degrees, if they can’t understand the law then there’s a problem right?  You’ve made something so complicated. We need to go back,” he says.

When asked if he’s open to further changes to bail reform, Cooney said he’s always willing to consider improvements.

Jennifer Lewke: “Do you feel like that at this point, enough offenses have been added to bail-eligible or are you still open to adding more or to looking at it differently?”

Jeremy Cooney: “So, with any piece of legislation, whether it’s public safety related or healthcare related there are always improvements that we can learn from based on implementation or community feedback so, my mind is open when it comes to how do we improve public policy so that it works effectively here in Monroe County and in New York.”

News10NBC Investigative Reporter Jennifer Lewke spoke with both candidates at length about a number of specific topics related to the criminal justice reforms: