Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces Gun Violence in New York Has Declined to Lowest on Record

Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces Gun Violence in New York Has Declined to Lowest on Record

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced new data that shows reported gun violence in New York State is at its lowest point since the state started tracking this data in 2006. Shooting incidents with injury declined 26 percent through September 2024 compared to the same nine-month period last year, as reported by the 28 police departments outside of New York City that participate in New York State's Gun Involved Violence Elimination initiative. A total of 170 fewer individuals were injured by gun violence in Gun Involved Violence Elimination initiative communities, with significant decreases in shooting incidents with injury reported in Niagara Falls, Rochester, Syracuse, Troy, Utica and on Long Island.

Since taking office, Governor Hochul has secured record-level funding for local law enforcement and district attorneys' offices, from $30 million during State Fiscal Year 2022 to $392 million in the current fiscal year. At the same time, the New York State Police budget has increased by 30 percent, allowing the agency to hire and train additional troopers, and significantly expand its support to local law enforcement agencies to address major crimes, gun violence and retail theft. Additionally, Governor Hochul directed state landmarks to be lit purple in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Good morning, good morning. Welcome. Please be seated. I want to acknowledge the extraordinary public servants that surround me and are in this room. Starting with Superintendent Steven James, who's really risen to the occasion - we have been through so many challenges working through weather-related, and violence-related and so many other situations that have come to the forefront, and I've always had such extreme confidence in your leadership.

So, let's give another round of applause to our Superintendent. Andrew Davis, the First Vice President of New York State PBA Troopers, and Ron Perroni, the Board Member of the New York State Police Investigators Association have joined us as well, representing the men and women of those two organizations. Let's give them another round of applause.

And, our partners in making sure that the laws that we write are enforced - I want to thank all of our district attorneys who've joined us here today: Mary Pat Donnelly, the Rensselaer County District Attorney; Tony Jordan, the Washington County District Attorney; Chris Liberati-Conant, Columbia County District Attorney; Anthony Parisi, Dutchess County District Attorney; and Morgan Bitton, the Executive Director of the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York.

I want to thank all of you for joining us as well. Thank you to our district attorneys. Representing New York City: Myle Cleveland, the Citywide Trustee for the NYC PBA; Betty Carradero, the Recording Secretary for the PBA in New York City; and, also, Marcus Waltor, the president of the New York Troopers Association; and Kelli Owens, the Director of our Office of Violence Prevention and Staff.

So, thanks all of you for coming here today as we talk about why we're here - we're here because we have some extraordinarily good news. But, later this morning I'll be speaking to 181 new State Troopers who just finished basic training in the police academy. I've spoken at countless graduations, and it always just makes my heart well with pride to know that individuals coming from every corner of the State are willing to go through the grueling training and all the challenge that it takes to be able to be walking across that stage and to be able to be called part of the family, the New York State Police family.

I'm so proud of all of them. I look forward to addressing them momentarily. So, that's always a big honor for me. I also tell them it's a noble mission that what they're called to do is something they answered - a call that they answered that is available for many, and very few step up and say, "I'm willing to do what it takes to protect my fellow citizens, members of my community and, actually, complete strangers."

So, they, and I, share the same priority - number one priority - public safety and keeping New Yorkers safe. That's the fundamental role of government, the foundation on which all other rights that we have here stand.

This is my fifth time since May talking about our statistics on fighting crime. It's important for me to keep the public informed on the work we're doing. Now, you'll recall back a few years ago when I first became Governor, there were people who recklessly called for defunding police and showing disrespect to the individuals who wear these uniforms, who are out there in harm's way.

And, people talk about taking money out of police departments when we truly needed that funding to be there to support them and help their communities. So, not only did we say that's not the right answer, we have now, over the last three years, funded police at historic levels. No Governor in history has funded the State Police at the level we have.

I've increased the State Police budget by 30 percent. We've added 1,000 new positions. We've added more academy training sessions, now going up from twice a year to four times a year.

But, also, not just our State Police - no Governor has invested more in local police. For three years now, we've secured an unprecedented $350 million dollars to combat gun violence crimes, and much of that does go right to our localities. We've also recognized that so much more needed to be done to enhance coordination and provide technology. And under my watch, and thanks to law enforcement in every corner of our State, today, I can proudly say that New Yorkers are safer and better protected than they have been in many, many years.

And, so, today we'll outline some of the latest crime statistics that prove our investments and our strategies are working. Let's start with outside New York City, where crime is 28 percent lower than it was in 2010, 40 percent lower than it was in 2000 and 63 percent lower than it was in 1990. In fact, in 2024, we have the third lowest crime rate since 1965.

Think about that. Third lowest crime rate since 1965, when people did not even have to talk about crime because they felt innately secure. Over the last year, shootings are down 26 percent, murders down 12 percent, total crime 10 percent. That's not over decades, years - that's just since last year. As proof that even when the numbers start trending in the right direction, we did not take our foot off the gas.

We continue the investment. We continued the training. We continue making sure that our law enforcement had the most technologically advanced devices, and now we can say that just in one year, it's gone down that much.

Let's zoom out for a minute and look at the last three years in office. Statewide, including New York City, murders are down 38 percent since 2021; shootings down 46 percent.

Think about this. In 2024, statewide, we're on pace to have fewer shootings and fewer murders than any one year since the 1960s. That's New York City and the rest of the State - lowest murders, shootings since 1960. And, it's consistent across the board. Gun violence is declining in every region.

Here, in the Capital Region, incidents of gun violence are down 30 percent in the last three years and, as we drive down crime, the only numbers you see going up are the illegal gun seizures and felony arrests. And, since I took office, State Police illegal gun seizures are up 170 percent. Thank you to my State Police for refocusing their energy.

And, we talked about this when I first became Governor. I appreciate our road warriors protecting our highways and byways, but I wanted to make sure that while our individuals are out there on our highways, that they're also part of a strategy to stop the illegal guns from flowing up the iron pipeline and coming into our cities; many coming in through Pennsylvania, I-81, either going up to Syracuse or heading the other direction, heading toward New York City.

And that's one of the reasons that, for the first time in our nation, one Governor here has created a consortium of contiguous states - eleven other states are part of our team to share data, to talk about people before they cross the lines into other states and to stop them cold in their tracks. And, that is one of the strategies that is working to keep illegal guns out of our streets as well.

For police agencies statewide, all across New York, felony arrests are up 40 percent, and the results are undeniable. This has a real effect on what people are seeing and feeling in their communities. Now, I watch television when I'm working out in the gym. I see a lot of ads that are trying to create fear, to make people feel like, especially as we get closer to Halloween, that there's this sinister feeling out there that politicians are trying to score a political gain. And, I'm telling you, you can watch that, but also I'm here to tell you the truth.

Here's the data: despite what you're hearing from the fear mongers that are out there today, murder and gun crime rates are down lower this year than they've been in 60 years. U.S. News and World Reports put out a report in August listing eight New York State counties among the safest 25 communities in the entire country. The entire country.

So, when people talk about rampant crime and making all these outlandish false claims, New Yorkers see through that. They know better than that. They trust the word of law enforcement and the public servants standing with me. They trust the work of these brave men and women [working] every single day to keep our communities safe.

And New Yorkers know we don't live in a dangerous dystopia that's portrayed by the right wing media or in the virtual social media posts they pop up every day. And, it's not what they're seeing and experiencing in communities when they walk out their front doors.

Don't get me wrong, I will never say everything's perfect. No matter how good the statistics get, we're going to make them even better - even better, and I'll keep reporting to the public on our progress. Crime does happen, that's why it's so important to continue to support our local police. And one crime victim is too many. There's always more work to do, but it does not negate the fact that New York is much safer today than it was three years ago, or even one year ago, and let's put a special exclamation point on that.

And while we've made great progress in dealing with gun violence, we're applying the same rigor, the same strategies to other crimes, including domestic violence. We know this is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. We wear purple out of respect for the survivors of domestic violence.

And, you've heard me talk about this as something personal to me. My own mother had to witness, as a child, an abusive environment. Her father against her mother - father eventually left. This person was so emotionally abusive that my mother could have been scarred for life and chosen a partner that was not healthy for her either because it becomes a cycle. Kids don't know any better. This is the world they exist in and so they often make the same mistakes that their parents made, that their mother made.

My mother broke free from that, and actually became an advocate for victims of domestic violence back in the 1970s when they were called wife-beaters and police officers would be called to the home when there's something happening - a woman being strangled, attacked.

911 gets called, police officers went to the home to respond. And, if the man went to the door and said, "Don't worry, everything's fine here," back then they would turn around and walk out the door. Laws were changed. My mother was an advocate, and since that time, there has been a recognition that you don't stop at the door, you investigate, you find out what's happening at home, and you might just be the person who saves a life. And, we've done that.

And, so, these are the memories and stories that my mother shared with me. I saw her do that work, that counseling. People called our house. She became a suicide prevention counselor. She became a marriage counselor. She was always trying to take the lessons from her own childhood and make sure no one had to live through that experience that she did. And that is what was still harbored deep inside of me as well, in her memory.

Her work had a profound effect on many, and today I use the position of Governor - I can use that knowledge and experiences of so many women and men throughout this State, and that's why I announced the largest investment in State history to combat domestic violence, $35 million. The Capital Region alone received $3.3 million dedicated to fighting domestic violence and will take the same focus, collaborative, evidence based tools that worked on gun violence, and use them against domestic violence.

Here, in Upstate, we're creating a program called STRIVE: Statewide Targeted Reductions in Intimate Violence. STRIVE will bring together our district attorneys, thank you, our police agencies, probation departments, community based organizations, and each of them will create plans specifically tailored to meet that county's needs, and will hold the perpetrators accountable and ensure that services for survivors are not just accessible, but trauma-informed and survivor-centered. So, more women will get the help they need and get back on their feet and break the cycle of violence once and for all.

And, I'll also say, it's not just about the moms, it's about the children. The children who live in hell, who don't understand what true love is, unconditional love is, and those are the children we saw at the home for domestic violence survivors that my mother and father started. Those kids had hard, cold eyes because no one treated them with love.

And, over time we saw them start to melt, and it gave me a lot of pride. There's a lot more kids out there that we have to help. Let them see it does not have to be that way. That is not the life that they are destined to live because that was their experience as children. My mother is proof of that. So, as I stated, our work on fighting crime is far from over, and the reward for work well done is a chance to do more.

My team and I are working on various day to day proposals that will build on our successes fighting crime and fostering safe communities because when we know this, we know this foundationally, when people are safe and feel safe, they can focus on other things that matter - raising their kids, advancing their careers, leading happy, fulfilled lives. That's the New York that we are building, and we could not do it without the partners in law enforcement who are here with us today.

Leaders like our next speaker, a 32-year veteran of the State Police, doing a tremendous job since he has taken over the helm as Superintendent over the last year. I want to thank him. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to present our State Police Superintendent, Steven James.

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