Commonwealth residents should get ready for a public safety debate – because we can guarantee one is coming.

In our opinion, a bill proposed by Rep. Mary Jo Daley, D-Merion Station, is a sheep in wolf’s clothing. Daley does, indeed, want to see how many people are being held in local jails on minor charges and how much time they are spending in jail, but we have a feeling this is the start not of data collection but a push to remake Pennsylvania’s bail system following a model used in New York state.

As we noted recently, New York’s bail reform fiasco began with data collection. It also began with concerns about people being held in jail because they were too poor to pay small amounts of bail and found themselves jailed without being found guilty of a crime. Data collection on jail populations was the first step down the primrose path of a bail reform process that has been contentious at best, dangerous at worst and confusing over the years as more and more charges are added to the list of bail-eligible offenses in New York.

But for every person that New York’s bail reform helped, there is a person New York’s bail reform hurt by letting too many people accused of serious crimes out of jail again and again. While overall reoffenders have decreased, those who do reoffend tend to tax already overburdened police departments with the types of offenses they commit.

Pennsylvania has two big advantages over New York. Its judges are allowed to consider dangerousness when deciding how high to set bail when someone accused of a crime appears before them in court. And, Pennsylvania’s court system moves much faster than New York’s, where it’s not uncommon to see the same names in court over and over again, particularly in cases involving drug sales, because the court system can’t move cases through quickly enough.

So be ready. Bail reform starts with data collection. It continues with a tug on the public heartstrings and promises of local budget savings by not housing as many people in local jails. By the time the damage is done, it’s too late.