Hochul touts dramatic drop in crime across New York, says violent crime rates at third-lowest level since the 1960s

By Alex Gault | Watertown Daily Times
Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul is touting new statistics that show violent crime is down to near record low levels, and said on Thursday that she is committed to keeping New York’s gun laws as strong as possible in the face of a federal overturn of some key aspects of the latest laws.
In an address Thursday morning to reporters in the state Capitol, flanked by state troopers, Hochul said that gun violence in New York has dropped significantly — outside New York City, crime rates have dropped 28% compared to 2010, and so far this year violent crime is down to the third-lowest level since 1965.
“Think about that, the third lowest crime rate since 1965,” she said. “People then did not even have to talk about crime, because they felt innately secure.”
Hochul said that overall, shootings are down 26% statewide this year compared to last year, the murder rate has dropped 12% and crime overall is down 10%.
Hochul said that even with these signs of progress, state officials are continuing to work on cutting crime rates even more.
Officials are continuing to run two training academy programs for state troopers per year, doubling the usual one academy per year. On Thursday, Hochul also welcomed 170 more state troopers to the force.
“The reward for work well done is the chance to do more work,” Hochul said.
The state’s Gun Involved Violence Elimination program, known as GIVE, continues to direct more resources and state attention to local police and prosecutors offices in 28 high-risk cities and counties, including the city of Watertown. That program, started in 2006, also requires that participating municipalities provide more data to the state on gun-involved incidents. According to state data, there were 467 shooting incidents reported between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 this year, compared to 646 in the same time period last year. Incidents that occur in non-GIVE jurisdictions outside New York City are not included in that count. This year, $36 million in state funding was directed to the GIVE program.
Hochul also discussed more details about a similar program dedicated to eradicating domestic violence, the Statewide Targeted Reduction in Intimate Partner Violence program, which will provide $23 million to law enforcement and prosecutors offices in 20 counties in upstate New York, including Jefferson County, specifically to train and improve systems to investigate, prosecute and protect victims from domestic violence. Jefferson County is getting $647,344 from the STRIVE program.
Even as New York invests millions in violence prevention programs with evident improvements in crime rates as a result, lawmakers are being faced with a long-term court battle over the core gun control laws in place in the state.
Last week, a federal appeals court ruled that a core aspect of the Concealed Carry Improvement Act was illegal and could not be enforced. U.S. District Judge John Sinatra Jr., who sits in Buffalo, ruled unconstitutional the CCIA’s requirement that any privately-owned public space, like a restaurant, bar or store has to post specific signage that tells patrons they are allowed to carry weapons in the building if they wish to allow it. The judge ruled that such a ban should be “opt-in,” meaning property owners would have to post signage specifically barring guns if they wished to do so.
In his ruling, Judge Sinatra wrote that the state had failed to prove that the law as written is significantly consistent with the U.S.‘s history of gun regulations.
“Indeed, property owners have the right to exclude, but the state may not unilaterally exercise that right and, thereby, interfere with the long-established Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens who seek to carry for self-defense on private property open to the public,” Sinatra wrote.
The CCIA is also facing a review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit over its blanket ban on guns at public parks.
On Thursday, Hochul said she remains committed to enacting and enforcing strong gun control laws in New York, and stands by the terms of the CCIA as written. She noted that the CCIA itself is a relatively recent law, put into effect in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 100-year old law that had required New Yorkers seeking a concealed carry permit to demonstrate a special need to defend themselves as part of the application process.
“We changed that law based on language that the Supreme Court said we could do,” Hochul said. “They said we could have a ban on concealed carry in sensitive places. Sensitive places was not defined. We took it upon ourselves to put in the parameters of what we believe that was, representing the people of this state.”
Hochul said she stands by the CCIA’s social media review functions, which are also the subject of a court challenge. She said she believes that there are indicators of potential violent inclination in a person’s social media postings, and she said reviewing online posts is an important step in keeping guns out of violent, potentially criminal hands.
“It’s our responsibility to find every way we can protect the public, and that means if they’re applying for a pistol permit, if you’re in New York, to be able to have the full scope of this person’s story,” she said.
Hochul said that if the federal courts uphold rulings that limit the scope of the CCIA beyond its current language, she will consider asking the state Legislature to pass new laws.
“We’re going to to look at all our options, and going back to the legislature and finding other ways, I will consider doing that,” she said. “We are not finished in our quest to protect the state of New York.”
Also on Thursday, Hochul moved to put to bed any rumors that she is seeking a job in the potential Kamala D. Harris administration, should Harris win the November election. Reports have arisen in recent days that Hochul was directing staff to connect with the Harris campaign about a possible job.
“Categorically false,” she said.
She suggested that some political rivals are trying to suggest she won’t be running for reelection when her term ends in 2026 — she said unequivocally that she will be on the ballot again in 2026 as candidate for governor.
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