Chiefs of two local police departments said they are feeling the pinch in the early weeks of 2020 after the state’s criminal justice reform initiatives went into effect.

John Bentley, chief of the Lakewood-Busti Police Department, said new discovery rules — in which evidence such as body camera video must be turned over to the defense of people charged with crimes within 15 days — have placed financial burdens on his office. He said new hardware and software are needed to handle the influx in new and expanded documentation required by the Chautauqua County District Attorney’s Office.

“The discovery rules, to me, is of no fault to the police and the courts,” Bentley said. “The issue is public defenders in the state who can’t keep track of their clients, so we’re taking the hit for their failures. But that’s the law, so be it. We’re going to have to deal with it, but it has caused some changes.”

Bentley said the elimination of bail to those charged with most non-violent crimes will likely cause an increase in the number of people who skip their court dates. The police chief said while it’s too soon to know how the reform measures will play out locally, he noted that some who have been arrested within the first few weeks of the year are aware of their ability to stay out of jail.

“One guy told our officers, ‘Why do you even bother taking me in. I’m just going to get out soon,'” Bentley said.

At the Ellicott Police Department, Chief William Ohnmeiss Jr. said he is at a “disadvantage” with the new changes, noting that without a receptionist or person to handle data entry, a lot of the work handling discovery is being taken up by a sergeant at the department.

“We’ve been overburdened by stuff we’ve virtually never had to do before,” Ohnmeiss said, later adding, “We don’t have a receptionist because the position was eliminated, so we’ve been learning to do more with less.”

Ohnmeiss said he hopes as time goes on, new routines will be learned that will make handling discovery items less burdensome. He pointed to a system implemented by the DA’s office that allows departments to send information and evidence via a computer.

“It’s not that we’re whining about it,” Ohnmeiss said. “Everyone is dealing with this.”

Bentley, meanwhile, said the laws surrounding criminal justice reform were “poorly written by those who don’t do the job.”

“Once these people get elected they think they were anointed by God,” he continued. “They think they become the smartest people in the world. Now here we are. … For me and my little outfit here — about 20 people who work here — it’s still an expense from the state that’s not paid for.”