Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced today that shooting incidents with injury in the 28 communities that participate in the Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) initiative have dropped 60 percent since she took office in 2021, with the lowest number of incidents with injury reported for the first 11 months of the year since the state began tracking this data in 2006. New statistics reported to the State Division of Criminal Justice Services by those police departments also show 81 fewer shootings and 142 fewer people shot from January to November 2025 as compared to the same time last year. Albany, Buffalo and Syracuse continue to lead the way with double-digit declines in gun violence. Governor Hochul’s investment of more than $3 billion in public safety — including doubling the annual funding to combat gun violence through GIVE and expanding the communities eligible for funding through the initiative — has contributed to these dramatic reductions in gun violence.

B-ROLL of the Governor touring the Crime Analysis Center at the Albany Police Department can be found on YouTube and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format.

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.

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

Great to be back at our Crime Analysis Center. I had just an extraordinary, extraordinary visit — a reminder of how technology can make a real difference in saving lives and what we've created here, along with our other centers across the state, is a place to have connectivity. There are 11 counties that are doing work right here.

I saw people from Sheriff's offices, and police, and federal agencies and local counties that are in a room all sharing information and collaborating in a way that has never happened before. And we're going to talk today about what results are occurring from that kind of collaboration, which I'm really proud of.

First of all, I want to thank our Mayor, Kathy Sheehan — you'll be hearing from her in a couple of minutes. And we're just so proud of what has happened in the city under your tenure. The growth, the fact that we're making some real good progress and driving down crime, which I know is your top priority as well. So I want to thank Mayor Sheehan for all she does. Chief Brendan Cox, these are high stress jobs and they're not for the faint of heart. But, you have been a strong leader through some challenging times, and now we're able to see clearly on the other side. The numbers are bearing out some incredible, incredible developments.

I want to thank every member of the police department here. We have our Sheriff, Craig Apple. Thank you, Sheriff, for all you do, keeping the county safe. Our District Attorney, Lee Kindlon, Albany County; making sure that when people commit crimes that there are consequences and that the justice system truly works.

My partners in government: Assemblymember John McDonald, Assemblymember Gabriela Romero who I see on a daily basis, it seems — we're always doing events together. But, they're true leaders and making a real difference here as well. I look forward to welcome and serve with our Mayor-elect Dorcey Applyrs from the City of Albany.

I have to give a special shout out to Joe Popcun, the Executive Deputy Director of DCJS, and it is his voice that is bringing so many ideas to us and how we can never rest and always push the bar even higher. And I appreciate what he does for us. And Todd Weiss, who's the Director of this Capital Region Crime Analysis Center.

I'm proud to stand here with all these people who are dedicated to one purpose, which is to make sure that people in our communities are safe. And they sacrifice a lot, particularly during the holidays, and the cold, and time from families, and the stress. These law enforcement jobs, especially those who are right on the front lines, they're high stress jobs. And they often have to see people in difficult, challenging circumstances, or go to a crime scene and witness what many of us would have a real problem understanding, and comprehending and adapting to. So I always tip my hat to the men and women who have chosen this form of public service. It is incredible. So, always grateful to check in on them.

And I'd like to talk about some progress, though. Our ongoing mission, since I first became Governor and crime was escalating in numbers that we had not seen in a long time — it was a frightening time back in 2021 coming through the final months of the pandemic. But everything was set off-kilter, and in our cities — and it's not just New York. It was a nationwide phenomenon where crime was up everywhere, but gun violence in particular.

And I wanted to create something that had not been happening before, which is collaboration with our neighboring states and creating an alliance with all of our neighbors because the guns are not coming from New York State. We don't make them here, most of them. And we have to stop that pipeline of where they're coming from across the border — up 81 from Pennsylvania, up 95 from down south. And we saw that if we could have a stranglehold of the gun trafficking coming in from other states, we could protect our citizens even more, and our residents even more.

So we focused on that. Those meetings continue. It is first in the nation. I've encouraged other governors to foster the same kind of relationships. But today we're focusing on the localities here in New York that participate in the GIVE Program, the Gun Involved Violence Initiative, and we've partnered with more than two dozen police agencies.

And, as I mentioned, gun crimes are down to record lows. If you had asked me a few years ago if I'd be able to say that today, I would've said, “I'm not sure,” because the trend was going upward. How you go from an upward trajectory to now having record lows is something we want to talk about today.

So, let's talk about how far we've come. The number of shootings with injury nearly doubled in 2021 when I first took office. Doubled from two years earlier. So crime was very much on everyone's minds — doubling of crime, doubling of shootings with injury. So we made it our top priority. What do we have to do? We had to change some laws. Some of the laws that needed to be changed in the Legislature were important. It's now having an effect that's important. We had to hold more criminals accountable and end that whole cycle of people in and out of the criminal justice system without consequences. And changing now, more recently, even our discovery laws, which resulted in so many cases being dismissed on just obscure technicalities, which were shocking.

And also, bringing resources to the table. Law enforcement had not been funded at the levels I believed was appropriate. I spent 14 years in local government. We had very little help from the state government to fund our police department, and I was responsible for hiring chiefs of police and interviewing individuals who wanted to become members of our police department. So I was very involved in this at the local level, but we never could look to Albany for any kind of sizable support — it just wasn't there. And I knew this coming in as Governor, and I wanted to change that dynamic radically — and we have.

We funded police and public safety now at record levels; $3 billion over the last few years — that is staggering. But every dime has gone to a purpose that I consider so worthy. And what is it using? I've been going all over the state from Long Island up to Buffalo to see exactly how they're using the money we've deployed. They're equipping our officers with the best crime fighting technology. Whether it's license plate readers or whether it's in-vehicle computer systems that connect to others, whether it's drone technology, I've seen everything. And state-of-the-art efforts to use all the tools that are out there, but are very expensive — that police departments all want to have, but they're beyond their reach and their budget.

So that's where the state steps in and says, “Listen. This is important. We're going to get it done and we're going to support you financially.” But also, strengthening our network of Crime Analysis Centers, which is where we are today, as well as bolstering our anti-violence organizations, our local boots-on-the-ground community organizations that sometimes have members who've been through the system themselves and they have a story to tell. They are the trusted people that can go into a community and talk to young people about finding a different path in their lives and not going down the path that they had gone on. So that is a powerful tool that we use all over the state, and I'm really proud of the work they do there as well.

And we've more than doubled the funding to the GIVE initiative, and that expanded to eight additional police departments, four more counties. So we now provide funding to 28 law enforcement agencies in 21 counties. As I mentioned, that can help hire more personnel, pay for overtime, enhance the training.

So let's talk about Albany. We're $5 million in additional funds to support this. And across the board, we're making real progress here. So what are we looking at? Hot spot policing. I just saw an example of this on the big board in the Crime Analysis Center and saw where they can track on a map where the hot spots are occurring over time and they shift. People on the street understand that there's a lot of surveillance in the area. They may go somewhere else. Well, where are they going next? We can track that literally on these maps and send more resources and attention to those areas — focused deterrence and, again, the street outreach.

And let's take a look at the numbers because they are quite remarkable. Shootings with injury down 60 percent since 2021. Gun-related homicides down 58 percent since 2021. Last year we had the lowest number of shootings on record. Let me repeat that. We've been tracking this data a long time. The lowest number of shootings in the State of New York on record. And with only three weeks left in 2025, we're on our way to shattering last year's record. So we're keeping it going. We're keeping the momentum going. It was not just a one-off and we're done and we're mission accomplished. We're still moving forward to drive the numbers down even more.

So when they told me all this, I said “This year as well, on top of last year's record?” They said yes. Because I could never get out of my mind how bad things had gotten. The fear in our streets and in the bigger cities like New York City, the fear on the subways — it was real. It was palpable. And it takes a long time for people to, even though the data shows a different story, for people to feel differently. And I don't expect them to overnight. And me standing here telling them the data's better is not here to say, “Have no fear. Everything's perfect,” because everybody has their own emotions and their reaction to what they experienced firsthand. But overall, to be able to say that the numbers have dropped dramatically is an incredibly positive development here.

So I think we have a lot to be proud of and we didn't do it by sitting in Albany dictating policies. It happens because of the people behind me all over the state. These are the real, true heroes in my book. The ones who are out there getting the job done and doing it so well. Let's focus just a little bit on Albany while we happen to be here, Mayor. Just as impressive. The numbers are just as impressive. And Albany shootings with injury down — 60 percent here in Albany as well. And reflect on these numbers.

What it means is there's a lot more people who can enjoy the holidays not visiting a loved one who was shot, who's now in a hospital bed or, even worse, having to go to a wake or a funeral home instead of having that person at their holiday dinner. This is what it means. These are real people's lives that are still there because we made a real difference, and I hope that the people who've dedicated themselves to this cause — and it is a cause — have a sense of at least some satisfaction to know that New Yorkers sleep better at night knowing that the men and women in uniform, and all the agencies and the support system around them are working for them.

We sleep better at night. So people are able to spend their holidays with their families. As we approach that season, it's sometimes a disruptive, scary time for people. A lot of loneliness, people with mental health challenges. It's high stress when your life is not what you thought it was going to be. And that's where I think the state has an important role to help people with mental health challenges who are on the streets, who are out there still looking for that support, and that's important to me as well.

But let's today take a look at this progress and know that one crime victim is one too many. But when it comes to public safety, we're just leaning further into what works, the proven strategies, and looking forward to announcing more initiatives in next year's Budget. So we won't telegraph our Budget yet, still working on it. — a lot of numbers, but let's keep building on the momentum.

Whether you live in Albany, or Auburn, or Buffalo, or Binghamton, or Long Island or the North Country, our job is to keep you safe. And there's one person who's dedicated his life to that experience here in the City of Albany. We're fortunate to have him. Chief Cox. I want to bring him up to the speaker. And you've made the Albany PD a national model in community policing, and that is something we're all enormously proud of.

Let's hear it from the Chief of Police and thank him for his service.