Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Highlights Nearly $39 Million and Commits Additional State Police to Help Further Reduce Crime in Rochester and Monroe[...]

Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Highlights Nearly $39 Million and Commits Additional State Police to Help Further Reduce Crime in Rochester and Monroe County

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul highlighted nearly $39 million in state funding for law enforcement agencies and community-based organizations in Monroe County and directed the New York State Police to deploy additional resources to further reduce gun violence and crime in the City of Rochester. The State Police will commit an additional 25 troopers and investigators to enhance their existing partnerships with the cell Rochester Police Department and other law enforcement agencies in the county to address public safety concerns. Law enforcement agencies in the county have also received a total of $24 million to purchase new technology and equipment to improve data and information sharing and enhance their crime-fighting capabilities, the largest state investment in any county eligible for funding.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the Governor's remarks is available.

PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

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

Good morning. It's great to be back in Rochester once again. Today, I'm here on a very serious matter. I'm here to outline new steps that my administration is taking to combat the recent spate of crime in Rochester. Because I know people are hurting. I know you're angry. I'm angry too. And as Governor, it's my number one priority to keep people safe.

It's something I take very seriously. And I think about it a lot. So, when I see a community like this - a second home to me, I know this area so well - when I see a community traumatized by a string of brutal crimes, my team steps in and we take action.

And I want to acknowledge the people I work so closely with. A special shout out to local law enforcement. I'm so grateful. So grateful. Our sheriff, our police, my State Police, Mayor Evans - Mayor Evans and I have gone a long way back. We've talked about this a lot. He calls me. I can hear in his voice the frustration, the anguish, the desire to just heal this community. So, Mayor Evans, I'm proud to be here with you today. I applaud your efforts and I know this is so deeply personal to you. Let's give our great Mayor a round of applause.

Our County Executive is here as well, Adam Bello, thank you for being such an amazing leader of this community. Our Sheriff Todd Baxter has joined us, great to see you, Sheriff. Superintendent of the New York State Police, Superintendent James, I want to thank you. You have stepped in, you have found creative solutions, the way to harness the power of the New York State Police to be an ally, a resource and a friend to our local police. Let's give a round of applause to him.

Joe Popcun, our Executive Director of DCJS. Joe, thank you. And Marcos Soler, who I rely on all the time, who does an extraordinary job as our Deputy Secretary for Public Safety, and he's the numbers guy. He's the one I say, "Are we going up? We going down? We doing better?" So, thank you, Marcos, for all you do.

And, of course, you heard the names of our elected officials. These are my friends, my partners. We have Assemblymember Harry Bronson, Assemblymember Meeks, Assemblymember Clark, Assemblymember Lunsford, and Senator Brouk. I want to thank all of you for being here today.

Now, I've talked to the Mayor and the Police Chief and the Sheriff about resources. This is not our first meeting. We've gathered in person a number of times over the last few years since I've been Governor. We have figured out a playbook for driving down crime. We have done this.

Since I became Governor, shootings in New York are down 53 percent. Here in Rochester - and we'll talk about what's going on here in a second, but I do want you to look at the bigger picture - we've made some promising strides. In the first eight months of this year, shootings are actually down almost 40 percent. Overall crime is down 38 percent. And last year, we were here talking about car thefts. We had the highest rate of car thefts, not just in the state, but almost in the entire country. And we announced a comprehensive plan, working with local law enforcement, giving them the resources they need to deal with this. Right now, car thefts are down 58 percent in Rochester. That's concrete, undeniable progress.

But, despite the great win yesterday, we don't spike the football here, right? We're not spiking the football. We are not done. We are nowhere near done. We have so much work to do. We're doing fairly well with statistics. People were starting to feel a little better. And then summer came, and what a summer this has been.

A 92-year-old was hit and killed, allegedly by teenagers with weapons and a stolen vehicle. A family of four, including two small children, found slain in a home in Irondequoit. How chilling is that? Gunfire erupts at a barbecue. Seven people, seven innocent people out there on a beautiful day to celebrate friendship, family. Two died, including a city employee named Tyasia Manning. Her family has joined us today. Please stand, mother, sister.

Mom, I'm a mom too. It's not supposed to happen like this. We're not supposed to bury our children. You're not supposed to bury your sister. It's not the natural way of life. There's no more searing pain than to lose a child, but to lose a child to such senseless violence hits all of us right here. I wish I could take the pain away from you. I really do. You shouldn't have to be sitting here. She was a beautiful young woman, so appreciated for her work here at City Hall and in state and city government. There are no words except to send love your way. May her memory be a blessing that gives you strength to carry on every day. I'm so sorry, sweetheart.

The heinous and high-profile nature of these crimes, over the span of just a few weeks, has literally shaken the psychology of this great community. Because these victims are not statistics. They're loved ones, they're our neighbors, they're our friends. And as I said, despite some encouraging progress, we're going to talk about the work that needs to be done.

Rochester is doing so much with what they have, but they need help. Rochester, number one, needs more law enforcement capacity, and we're here to help. They need upgraded crime fighting technology. We're here to help. And more funding for crime prevention initiatives, which I believe in, and we're here to help. We're delivering on all three. That's the formula. It's simple, but it's impactful.

That's why today I'm here to announce I've directed the State Police to deploy up to 25 additional troopers to work directly with the Rochester Police Department. They are yours. Work together, hand in hand.

Because I know when you have so many incidents at the same time, it stretches the resources. Everybody's doing their best. There's only so many hours in a day. A lot of crimes are unsolved. We want them solved. We want people to speak up. If you've seen something with some video, where are you? Come forward today.

His family deserves some peace. And I spent a lot of years in local government. I've hired police chiefs. I've hired police officers. I know the hard work they do, and they're not wanting to ask for help. This is not a sign, reflection on them at all. We're just here to say, "You lead, we're here with you."

I've also been married to a federal prosecutor for 40 years. He was once your United States Attorney. He works so closely, partnerships with the DA's office, Chiefs of Police, County Executive's office, DAs, Sheriff's, everybody. Everybody pulls together - U.S. Attorney's Office. There's incredible power in that coalition, and I want to make sure every bit of it is being harnessed for good.

So I know it can be done. And I understand the strain of these incidents on local law enforcement. When you're trying to solve a crime, you're trying to find witnesses, you're trying to bring them forward, you're trying to get them to speak up, you're trying to connect the dots that will lead you to these perpetrators and lead this community to justice, which right now is overdue for these families that are in such pain.

So our State Police reinforcements - we'll assist with the investigations. We'll even have them patrol the hotspot areas. We'll be there. We're going to be there. And we're going to work to get this community back on track the way it always should have been and always will be going forward. So the visible presence of more police is powerful.

It says, you are a community that matters. We want to protect you. We want you to go about your daily lives not worrying about anything. Take care of your family, your kids, your jobs, and we'll do the rest. It's about not just keeping people safe, but they have a God given right to feel safe too. And that's what's missing right now in this community. And I want that back. I want that back. They should be focused on just everyday lives. Also, to solve, and I'd much rather prevent crimes, but to solve and to prevent crimes, police need more cutting-edge technology. It's out there. It gets expensive. I understand when resources are literally taxed. It costs money.

This year, the agencies of Monroe County asked the state for $24 million to upgrade their equipment. That's a lot of money. But we came through with every penny of that. $24 million to help to upgrade their equipment. Rochester PD, the Rochester Police received $10 million. $10 million for Rochester PD so they can buy the equipment they need to prevent and solve crimes.

Monroe County Sheriff's Office, $11.7 million, the largest police tech grant to any agency in the state. Sheriff Baxter, thank you. What do we do with the money? You can purchase license plate readers, mobile camera systems, drones, body cameras and smart technology for the police vehicles.

Now, less than two weeks ago, State Police here in Rochester used some of these same high-tech real-time surveillance tools to catch five dangerous criminals that were driving around in an SUV full of guns. That's how the technology works and we're going to make sure there's more of it out there. Weapons were seized, felony charges were brought, and I know we prevented not just violent crimes, but perhaps we prevented the devastation that is right now tearing apart Tyasia's family. Better tech helps police gather better intelligence. It's that simple.

And then they share it with the Crime Analysis Center here in Monroe County, where analysts find patterns, connect the dots, as I said, link suspects in vehicles and provide real time support.

Now, last year, the Monroe Crime Analysis Center received more than 21,000 service requests. They helped solve homicides, break up car thefts and seize illegal guns. So, this is the foundation for that work, the money, the technology, the analysis that follows. And then we take these criminals off the streets and lock them up and say, no more, no more.

If there's a common thread here, much of this involves young men and even teenage boys. That in itself is tragic. That alone, you have to say why? Why can't they get on the right path? Where are the role models? Where are the adults who care and give a damn about these kids? There are groups out there. I believe in these groups to my core. I've seen the positive effects of our violence disruption groups - good people out there putting themselves in harm's way, talking to kids, making connections, relationships. I saw it back in Buffalo. Made a huge difference in driving down crime there a long time ago. And it's happening here. And every single person who's involved in the violence disruption community, please stand up. I want to applaud you. Please stand up. Please stand up. You're doing the best you can with what you have, and you're going to keep doing it. But I'm going to help you out a little bit more.

We're announcing significant investments in community violence prevention groups. The people on the ground doing God's work, helping kids get on the right path. Telling someone that they're cared about. By strangers, perhaps. Their government. Maybe that doesn't matter, but there's somebody who makes a connection and leads them on the right path. For the second straight year, we're announcing $2 million to 14 grassroots organizations through Project RISE. And they provide mental health support, crisis intervention, mentoring, vocational training, you name it.

But I said, let's just sweeten that a little bit more. On top of the $2 million, we're going to add $300,000 more to the six organizations doing this impactful work for our young people. I want to give you that, so you have a little bit more to work with. 585 SNUG, Healers Village, Rise Up Rochester, Rock The Peace, Untrapped Ministries in the City of Rochester.

Each you'll receive $50,000 more to support your efforts. So all combined with today's new funding, we've now committed nearly $39 million this year alone to fight crime, prevent crime and assault crimes. And that also includes a record $6.2 million through our Gun Involved Violence Elimination Initiative.

That is working. $4 million to connect low-income, at-risk kids with jobs. The best crime fighting tool is a job, I'm convinced. It's all we need. There's jobs there. I talked to CEOs, presidents, companies, small business, large business. They've got the jobs. It's got to make that connection. Got to make the connection.

Not every young person has a role model. Going off to college, or going off and getting an apprenticeship program, getting the training. They don't always have that. The jobs are there, but we're putting $4 million to connect them, young people, to these jobs. So we're going to get it done. Help keep them out of trouble, but let them know the dignity of a good job.

You are part of society. You can build some generational wealth, have that job, get that apartment, get the house maybe, have some kids, send them to school. That's the American Dream that right now is denied to many, and we're here to change that. We have work to do. We have a lot of work to do. It's a job that's never done.

We will be aggressive. We are very aggressive. We will drive down crime, and invariably, there'll be setbacks. It was a rough summer. Let's look forward. Solving those crimes. Putting people behind bars. Stopping that. Let's head into a new season where this community knows they have a Governor who cares. We'll be there for them to support our elected officials, our law enforcement, all the way and we'll see this through.

We've come here so many times to talk about this. I am seeing positive light. I really am. Let's not ignore the light that's out there. People need to know there's optimism. There's a way to turn the corner. Positive psychology breeds more positive psychology and I hope going forth from today, people have that sense of a can-do attitude. That I know has long defined the people of this region.

That resiliency when you get knocked down and you get back up, we always have. This is one of those moments, this is how we'll be defined, whether we throw in the towel and say, "It's going to always be there, we can't do anything," or we say, "no." Take that towel, wipe the brow, get back in the game.

Get back in that game and win it. That's exactly what we do in this area. So I thank all of you. I thank all of you today. We're not going anywhere. I love this community with all my heart and soul, and I care about the people deeply. And I'll say this, we have great partners. I'm going to continue to rely on them.

Our Mayor, our County Executive, our law enforcement, to all my friends in the Legislature. Together, we will solve this and finally heal this community. Thank you very much.

I'd like to introduce a great champion for this community. The Dean of the Delegation, Assemblymember Harry Bronson.

Contact the Governor's Office