Mayor Says Gun Violence in Rochester Lowest in Four Years

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Mayor Malik Evans said that since he declared a Gun Violence State of Emergency in January of 2022, gun crimes are continuing to fall.

Evans says the rolling total of shootings that occurred in the previous 365-day period fell below 200 for the first time since June of 2020. Additionally, he says all three metrics the city uses to track gun violence are at their lowest in five-years by more than 30%—shootings are down 38 percent, People injured by gun fire is down 34 percent, and firearm related homicides are down 32 percent.

Evans credits “focused collaboration among law enforcement agencies and City partners” for the crime reductions and says the same “focused collaboration will be applied to non-violent crimes.”

“The lessons we’ve learned while bringing gun violence to pre-pandemic levels have taught that sometimes our biggest problems require a hyper focus on the people, places and patterns that have a disproportionate impact on quality of life,” Evans said. “These partnerships and data-driven investigations are proving to be very effective in developing custom solutions to crimes that have a disproportionate impact on the quality of life of our residents.”

Evans says he will focus on non-violent crimes using the partnerships and lessons learned regarding the city’s gun violence. These include:

• Retail Theft Details with the State Police that use data-driven investigations to identify the patterns of known, habitual shoplifters;

• The frequent use of a State Police helicopter to track large hordes of ATVs and dirt bikes on city street back to their source, resulting in the confiscation and dismantling of more than 150 of these vehicles;

• Daily Rochester police officer walking patrols to confront the challenges posed by homeless people along the Monroe Avenue commercial corridor;

• Using Department of Environmental Services resources to alter street patterns that contribute to disruptive and sometimes violent behavior in such areas as Martin Luther King Jr. Park; Parcel 5 and the East End Entertainment District;

• The continued decline of motor vehicle thefts since the creation of the Monroe County Department of Probation Juvenile Enhanced Diversion Stabilization Program, which has a recidivism rate of less than 3 percent;

• The Advance Peace: Peacemaker Fellowship intervention program that has contributed to reduction of homicides in the 10th Ward from 20 in 2021 to two so far this year.

“As I look back over the past three years, I recognize that the plague of violent crime that held a firm grip on our city at the start of 2022 was an unprecedented challenge that we’re confronting with unprecedented levels of collaboration both inside and outside of City Hall,”

Evans says the Gun Violence State of Emergency will remain in effect.