Governor Hochul: “We allocated $127 million for local police and county police upgrades for technology because we always have to stay steps ahead of the would-be wrongdoers and the criminals. But for Westchester County, this is $11.5 million of unanticipated money that they could use to find out how they can be at the forefront of fighting crime, and to use the latest and the greatest technology… That's how you fight crime. You fund police at record levels. We don't defund the police, we fund the police. We give them the tools they need.”
Hochul: “Statewide, we've secured over $3 billion in law enforcement across the array of supporting our district attorneys, and local grants and our State Police work… My simple message to Washington is this — and to the Republicans in Congress who are letting this all happen under their watch, the seven from our state — just stop. Just stop. Stop. We're here on the ground. We're doing what everybody talks about, but we're making a real difference with smart, strategic approaches to fighting crime and protecting our citizens, and you are undermining our efforts. Stop it.”
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul visited Westchester County to highlight the state’s investment of more than $11.4 million to modernize law enforcement technology and equipment across the county’s law enforcement agencies. The visit included a demonstration featuring state-of-the-art technology purchased by the county’s Department of Public Safety through the state’s Law Enforcement Technology grant program. These technology grants and sustained, record-level funding for other public safety initiatives – including the Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) initiative – are contributing to safer communities across the state. Westchester County has seen an 18 percent decrease in index crime since last year, and the two GIVE communities in the county have experienced a 42 percent decrease in shooting incidents with injury since Governor Hochul took office.
B-ROLL of the Governor touring the Westchester County Police Academy is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).
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 of the event will be available on the Governor's Flickr page here.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good morning, everyone. I'm very proud to be joined here by the leader of the New York State Senate, our Majority Leader, Westchester’s own Andrea Stewart-Cousins. You'll be hearing from her in a couple of moments.
Our County Executive, Ken Jenkins — longtime partner in government, appreciate all he does. Our Public Safety Commissioner, Terrance Raynor. You'll be hearing from him momentarily. Also, very fortunate to have a strong advocate that we've heard a lot from in Albany last year — our Westchester District Attorney, Susan Cacace. And I want to thank her for all she does every day.
But more importantly, I'm proud to join the proud men and women of Westchester County Police who literally put their lives on the line every day to protect this incredible county. And whether you're a new recruit or a veteran officer, I want to thank all of you for the sacrifices you make. Yesterday, I had a chance to speak to 238 new State Police officers, and talked to them about the pride of public service and nobility of public service. And I know all of you truly believe that, or you would not be here today.
And I had the exciting opportunity to check out some of the crime fighting technology that we've been able to deliver here, because as Governor, the Legislature — we allocated $127 million for local police and county police upgrades for technology because we always have to stay steps ahead of the would-be wrongdoers and the criminals.
But for Westchester County, this is $11.5 million of unanticipated money that they could use to find out how they can be at the forefront of fighting crime, and to use the latest and the greatest technology. So with the funding — and we saw some examples of this — they purchased mobile license plate readers, surveillance cameras, body cameras, tablets for patrol vehicles, and even a GPS dart gun, so to speak. Is that what we’re calling it? A dart gun? That you could launch and it literally sticks to a vehicle that you're trying to pursue. It’s a much safer way that we can do it without high speed chases. We'd be able to keep track of people.
So these are really essential crime upgrades that represent just one aspect of our very much holistic approach to public safety. And statewide, we've secured over $3 billion in law enforcement across the array of supporting our district attorneys, and local grants and our State Police work. And really made unprecedented investments in the GIVE program, the Gun Involved Violence Elimination. The SNUG — something I believe in, the Street Outreach programs — where the violence disruptors or interrupters often are people who've had their run-ins with the law and come out. And I really want to fulfill their mission to stop others from being on the same path that they found themselves on.
Project RISE supports youth mentors. They're doing incredible work, changing people's lives. As well as our 11 crime analysis centers, which we've really increased. We've gone from just a few when I first became Governor to be this coordinated approach where we can give real time data to the local policing agencies. When there's this actual commission of a crime going on, we can be right there with technology and tracking information. So, that's how we can track and solve some of our toughest cases.
But also, we made some common sense legal reforms. We changed the bail laws to make them stronger, to keep repeat offenders off the street. We changed our discovery laws, most recently, with the support of our district attorneys to keep criminals from walking free on technicalities. And stronger red flag laws, which are really making a difference to keep guns out of the hands of those who pose a danger to themselves or others.
And I'll say, collectively, this has been a laser focus of ours since the beginning. It’s starting to pay off. We're really starting to see the differences in the data, and I'm going to share some of this with you. In Westchester County, compared to just last year alone, index crime is down 18 percent, violent crime down 19 percent. And just in the town of Mount Pleasant, where we are, index crime is down 35 percent since last year alone. And if you look at gun violence, since I took office, shootings are down. Even look at a place like Yonkers, they're down 25 percent and 55 percent in Mount Vernon. And these are two communities that are supported by our GIVE funds — the gun involved violence disruption.
So that's how you fight crime. You fund police at record levels. We don't defund the police, we fund the police. We give them the tools they need. They have the best technology. And also the coordination between our agencies where the state government is a great facilitator and a coordinator to work with our counties who then work with the localities.
And also, the other effort is to engage young people before they make the wrong decisions. And passing laws that are rooted in common sense. So that's how we in New York State keep people safe. But I have to juxtapose that with what the federal government is doing, and wasting government resources that had been used for fighting crime — like the FBI and others. They're now all deployed as ICE agents and targeting, far too often, innocent individuals, innocent families, and sending masked agents with guns blaring into our cities. And certainly, they've been defunding the police. I have had many epic battles to try and have money restored that was cut from Homeland Security. Money that literally was going to, for example, NYPD and the fire department to protect us from terrorist threats.
And twice in the last two weeks, as I mentioned, Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security tried to slash crucial dollars from us and she failed. And whether it was clawing back the $200 million from vital police funding — and that included $2.3 million from the Westchester PD. And that's money that they were willing to take away from you here in Westchester — doing incredible work, showing differences that you're making, and they're willing to take that as well. And also would've been almost $2.5 million from Yonkers alone.
Yonkers needs the money, right Leader. And the federal government, in a cold-hearted way, was willing to take that money away from our local police officers in Yonkers and in other communities across Westchester County. So we stepped in. I worked with the Attorney General, and Secretary Noem is learning the hard way that when you mess with New York, you try to defund our police, we're going to fight back and we're going to win — whether it's personal appeals or whether it's in court.
So my simple message to Washington is this — and to the Republicans in Congress who are letting this all happen under their watch, the seven from our state — just stop. Just stop. Stop. We're here on the ground. We're doing what everybody talks about, but we're making a real difference with smart, strategic approaches to fighting crime and protecting our citizens, and you are undermining our efforts. Stop it.
And stop the hypocrisy. And if you're serious about protecting America, keeping America safe, then start proving it. Fund these programs. Stop making them be political pawns in your larger fight to try and gain support, which you're losing badly. You're losing support badly. So a radical thought, but how about working for New Yorkers instead of against us?
And so, I want to continue supporting the brave men and women who step up every day — many of whom are in this room. I want to be there. Our State Legislature wants to be there. Our local county officials, our district attorneys all want to be there to support. And yet, having to fight Washington, thwarting our efforts to keep our people of our state safe is just beyond absurd.
So we've come a long way, and you'll never hear me declare a victory on crime. There's always another crime being committed. But we're making a real difference. You cannot argue with the data. And that's why I'm here today to talk about how we are continuing — not saying we've done enough. We're going to continue doing more, making the investments. The enterprising people here who found the great technologies that we wanted them to purchase, and putting them to use, keeping people safe.
And so, with that, I want to turn it over to another person who truly believes in our responsibility as elected leaders to protect the people of our state. And I want to introduce to the podium at this time, Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.