Cuomo declares gun violence emergency
New York. The strategy treats gun violence as a public health crisis; the disaster emergency allows the state to speed money and resources to communities so they can begin targeting gun violence immediately.
| 06 Jul 2021 | 08:14
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo this week declared the first-in-the-nation gun violence disaster emergency as part of a new, comprehensive strategy to build a safer New York. Photos provided NYS.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo at the press conference Tuesday where he announced his strategy to build a safer New York after declaring s gun violence disaster emergency. “As with COVID,” the governor’s office said in its statement detailing the effort, “the state will use a cluster-based strategy to contain and combat the epidemic and identify gun violence hot spots where clusters of shootings are driven by small numbers of people. Initial hot spots identified in New York City, Albany, Buffalo, Syracuse and Long Island include just 4,090 young men aged 18-24 but account for 48.5 percent of recent gun violence in those communities.”
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo this week declared the first-in-the-nation gun violence disaster emergency as part of a new strategy to build a safer New York.
This strategy treats gun violence as a public health crisis, using short-term solutions to manage the immediate gun violence crisis and reduce the shooting rate, as well as long-term solutions that focus on community-based intervention and prevention strategies to break the cycle of violence.
According to the governor’s office, the disaster emergency allows the state to expedite money and resources to communities so they can begin targeting gun violence immediately.
Tracking gun violence hotspots
To coordinate this nation-leading gun violence prevention effort, the Governor announced the creation of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
The Governor also required by Executive Order major police departments to share incident-level data on gun violence with DCJS to compile this data weekly. This data will be used by the new Office of Gun Violence Prevention to track emerging gun violence hotspots and deploy resources to those areas that need it most.
This strategy also includes a $138.7 million investment in intervention and prevention programs, including programs that engage at-risk youth in summer job opportunities and community activity programs to get young people off the streets and supports ongoing gun violence prevention programs.
According to the governor’s office, the spike in gun violence began as COVID kept many young people out of school and work, and disruptions to social supports and services left at-risk youth without safe, productive places to go during the day. These disruptions have had a destabilizing impact, particularly on young people, leading to a rise in gun violence. Research has shown that summer job programs decrease the likelihood of involvement in violence by 45 percent.
’The New York way’
“We’re building New York back better than ever before, but part of rebuilding is addressing the systemic injustices that were exposed by COVID. If you look at the recent numbers, more people are now dying from gun violence and crime than COVID - this is a national problem but someone has to step up and address this problem because our future depends on it,” Governor Cuomo said. “Just like we did with COVID, New York is going to lead the nation once again with a comprehensive approach to combating and preventing gun violence, and our first step is acknowledging the problem with a first-in-the-nation disaster emergency on gun violence.
“When we see an injustice we don’t look the other way, we stand up and fight it because that’s the New York way.”
The plan
These are the elements of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s strategy to build a safer New York:
Issues executive order declaring gun violence a disaster emergency, requiring DCJS to gather and to share incident-level data from local police departments on gun violence.
Creates Office of Gun Violence Prevention to coordinate efforts and direct resources to emerging gun violence hot spots.
Invests $138.7 million in intervention, prevention and jobs programs to engage at-risk youth and get young people off the streets.
Creates New State Police Gun Trafficking Interdiction Unit to stop the flow of illegal guns into the state.
Partners with John Jay College of Criminal Justice to strengthen police-community relations.
‘We have a public safety crisis that has been created by Democrats’
New York State GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy issued the following statement on Gov. Andrew Cuomo declaring a state of emergency for gun violence:
“We have a state of emergency in New York - it’s called one-Party Democrat rule. What did Cuomo think would happen when he let all the dangerous criminals back onto the streets?
“We have a public safety crisis that has been created by Democrats who handcuff and villainize police, while coddling violent career criminals by eliminating bail, loosening parole and allowing them free rein in our communities.
“The only way we are going to get this scourge of violence under control is to throw out the Democrats who created this nightmare in the first place - starting with Andrew Cuomo.”