Bail reform laws let alleged criminals back on the streets within hours, threatening public security

Hundreds of looters and rioters arrested by the New York Police Department over the past several days have been immediately released due to the state's new bail-reform law that some say is turning the criminal justice process into a mockery and threatening public safety.

New York City police chief Terrance Monahan said "just about all" of the looters arrested will be released without bail.

Frustrated law enforcement officials across the state say repeat offenders are getting bolder by the day and claim the state's policy gives lawbreakers the green light to commit crimes without consequences.

Louis Turco, head of the Lieutenants Benevolent Association, said the violence seen during the demonstrations in New York is the byproduct of the new law that requires defendants to be released without cash bail on a long list of misdemeanors and some felonies including arson and burglary.

"This has been put in motion by our politicians that have allowed the criminal element to feel as if there's no consequences for any crime that you do and now you've seen this coming out," Turco told The Washington Post. "...Now they go home and tell all their friends, 'Listen, I got out the next day and nothing's going to happen to me.'"

Former NYPD detective Oscar Odom told Fox News on Wednesday that he thinks it's likely that "99.9 percent" of the people who were arrested and released from jail because of the new law have gone right back to looting.

But it's not just happening in big cities.