On August 22, 2025, Iryna Zarutska was killed at the East/West Boulevard station on the Lynx Blue Line, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who had fled her country because of the Russian invasion, was stabbed from behind three times while seated on the train. She did everything right. She and her family immigrated to the United States legally. They had a sponsor. She was attending college and was working at a pizza shop. At the time of the stabbing she was traveling home after work.

The entire event was captured on video. Initially, the video was not seen by the public. Then everything changed when the mayor of Charlotte thanked the press for not distributing the video. Then the video was everywhere.

In response to this terrible event, the North Carolina legislature passed Iryna's Law. It was signed by the Democrat Governor.

Join us on this episode of The Bail Post as we discuss the events leading up to this tragedy and the statute that was passed in Iryna Zarutsha' honor.

Our guest is the President of the North Carolina Bail Agent's Association, Julie Henderson.

As we begin Season 5 of the Bail Post, we are talking about the importance of engaging in public relations in the Criminal Justice System. One of the things that we have learned over the years is that the activists will never admit that they are wrong or that they are doing more harm than good. Also, they have learned how to inundate google with pseudo studies that are really nothing more than dressed up press releases from these same groups that many times actually contradict what the actual science says should be the proper course of action. Therefore, if we are not telling the positive stories of the bail industry and the Criminal Justice System, then these stories will not be told. If we are not highlighting what the actual science says then many times no one will.

Our guests on today's episode of The Bail Post is our PR Team- Cara Downs and Elliott Chang who are Media Vista PR. If you would like more information about Cara and Elliott contact them directly at:

Elliott@mediavistapr.com

Cara@mediavistpr.com

In 2020, there were protests in Seattle, Washington following the death of George Floyd. For a period of 24 days, an area that became known as the Capitol Hill Occupation Protest (CHOP) was treated as an autonomous zone where the police did not respond to calls. As a result, the CHOP zone became an example of what happens when police stop policing. Dr. Eric Piza and Dr. Nathan T. Connealy largely used data from the City of Seattle Open Data portal, analyzing data from more than one year prior to CHOP with two microsynth models to understand average and seasonal crime trends. Dr. Piza and Dr. Connealy looked at the impact of crime in three areas: (1) the CHOP zone; (2) the two block radius around the CHOP zone; and (3) the precinct at large.

The results showed a significant increase in crime within the CHOP zone, the encompassing two-block area, and the overall East precinct service area during the occupation period. The study suggests that calls to abolish the police compromise public safety.

Although advocates argue the abolishing police would have a positive impact on crime, the science not only does not support this conclusion, it actually supports the opposite conclusion that when police stop policing crime increases dramatically.