County Board Endorses
Arraigning All Suspects
In A Single Courtroom
Jail-Lobby Renovations Now Completed
By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
COOPERSTOWN – It was pro-forma, but the Board of Representatives today approved a resolution supporting centralized arraignment in Otsego County, which it is mandated by the state to do regardless.
Under the acronyms CAFA and CAP, which grew out of concern that suspects were being arraigned without proper counsel, any arraignment for a crime by any police agency operating in the county will be done as of Oct. 1 in the lobby of the county jail.
CAFA is the state acronym for “counsel at the first appearance” and CAP is “centralized arraignment part.”