Court officers rally against 'Raise the Age'

<p>Court officers in the Bronx Wednesday rallied against the 'Raise the Age' law, which they say poses a great threat inside of courtrooms.</p>

News 12 Staff

Oct 17, 2018, 4:55 PM

Updated 2,205 days ago

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Court officers outside the the Bronx Wednesday rallied against the 'Raise the Age' law, which they say poses a great threat inside of courtrooms.
They say the new law is creating staffing shortages, security lapses and injuries on the job, which add to the growing complications within the industry.
The 'Raise the Age' law went into effect on Oct. 1 and allows offenders 16 years old and younger to be moved through the family court system instead of the criminal one.
Officers say instead of the city hiring more officers, they are just being to moved from criminal to family court.
They say the move creates lapses in security when the focus is off of criminal court.
Court officers say they are already seeing an increase in weapons and contraband being smuggled into the courts including knives, guns and even a hand grenade.
In a statement the Office of Court Administration wrote, "There is no uptick in weapons smuggling, incidents of officers getting hurt or any compromising of safety for court users. To say so is untrue and reckless. The safety and security of our court facilities is paramount...By the spring of next year we will have graduated 3 classes of recruits, both upstate and downstate, totaling more than 350 new court officers."