On Tuesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) held a press conference about crime in Long Island.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Ladies and gentlemen, please stand as we welcome the 57th governor of the great state of New
00:10York, Governor Kathy Hochul.
00:22Thank you, everyone.
00:23Great to see all of you.
00:26We're here in Glen Cove to update New Yorkers on our efforts to crack down on crime, something
00:31I know is critically, critically important.
00:34Here on Long Island, we've partnered with local police departments and county police
00:38departments to drive down murders and violent incidences and overall crime, and we're not
00:44letting up.
00:45And I want to acknowledge the many partners we have here in the audience, starting with
00:50our congressman, a person who knows this community very well, is the former mayor of Glen Cove,
00:55our congressman, Tom Suozzi, who you'll be hearing from in a couple minutes.
01:01My great partners in the state legislature, these are the individuals who help deliver
01:07for these communities, but also are your voices in our state capitol, and I'm so grateful
01:11to have so many represented here today.
01:14Senator Kevin Thomas has joined us, Senator Thomas.
01:18Senator Monica Martinez has joined us.
01:22Assemblymember Chuck Levine has joined us, we're in his district.
01:26Senator Taylor Dowling has come.
01:28We also have Delia DeRiggi-Whitten, the Nassau County Minority Leader, is here as well.
01:35I also come out of local government, so I love my mayors, and I'm very happy to see
01:39Mayor Pam Panzenbeck here.
01:44Members of the City Council have joined us as well.
01:46Members from my administration, our New York State Police Superintendent, Stephen James,
01:51is here as well.
01:55And of course, the men and women of law enforcement who are here to celebrate and thank, because
02:01they are such an important part of driving down the crime rate here in this great community,
02:06here in this county, but all across the state.
02:08And Chief Whitten, the City of Glen Cove Police Department, Chief Whitten, thank you.
02:12Thank you for all you're doing for us.
02:15We also have representatives from the Nassau County PBA and the Suffolk County PBA, let's
02:20give them a round of applause as well.
02:25And Rabbi Michael Chergill of the North Country Forum Temple, thank you for hosting us here
02:29today.
02:30Thank you, thank you very much.
02:35My number one job has always been, will always be, to keep New Yorkers safe.
02:44Whether you're at work, at home, or worshiping in a synagogue.
02:50That is the fundamental role of government.
02:52It's foundational to all of our other work to improve New Yorkers' quality of life.
02:59And that's why when I first became governor, my first priority was to help dial back some
03:05of that unease and the anxiety that was affecting so many communities as we saw the aftermath
03:12of the pandemic.
03:14Crime rates soared, not just in New York, but all across the country.
03:17But we were hard hit.
03:19Crime was up all over the state, crime was up here on Long Island.
03:24And I said to my agency commissioners and our allies and local and county police departments,
03:32you're the experts.
03:34You're out there on the front lines.
03:36You tell me as your governor what tools you need to be successful, and I will get them
03:43to you.
03:44And at the time, there were other voices recklessly calling to defund the police.
03:53Wrong then, wrong now, wrong forever.
03:58And so, instead of defunding the police, I refunded, I upped the numbers dramatically.
04:07In my first three budgets, with the cooperation and support of the individuals here, we dramatically
04:14increased funding to fight crime all across this state.
04:18The first year I came into office, 2021, Long Island, Long Island, all of Long Island, received
04:24$7 million from the state of New York to support local police, district attorneys, other anti-crime
04:32initiatives.
04:33You know what we did last year, $47 million dedicated to fighting crime here on Long Island.
04:43That was last year.
04:45The budget we just concluded, I said we're going to go big or go home.
04:49We secured over $50 million to help Long Islanders fight crime and be safe.
04:56No governor has been as committed as I am to preserving the quality of life and keeping
05:03Long Islanders safe and investing in local police departments.
05:07I know a lot about this.
05:09My husband was a federal prosecutor for 30 years.
05:13My son is now a federal prosecutor.
05:15We support law enforcement.
05:17We support our district attorneys.
05:18We support all of you who are out there doing everything you can, serving the public in
05:24countless ways, putting your own lives in danger, all the men and women in uniform.
05:30Because I know if we invest in our local police departments, we're investing in the very best
05:35people, public servants who uphold our Constitution, the safety and security of our towns and the
05:42villages and the counties where they live.
05:45Let me be very clear.
05:47I believe in local police departments like Glen Cove with their great chief who's joined
05:53us here today, Chief Witten.
05:55I believe in the Nassau County Police Departments.
06:00I believe in the Suffolk County Police Forces.
06:03I believe my good friends like Nassau County PBA President Tommy Chevlin and our Suffolk
06:09County PBA President Lou Zivello.
06:12They couldn't make it here today.
06:13They wish they could.
06:14They're taking much-deserved breaks.
06:18But their board members are here on their behalf today.
06:20I want them to stand right now so we can recognize all of you, all the board members of the PBA.
06:24Please stand up.
06:26Now, I believe in what you do.
06:37That's why, for the life of me, I can't understand why someone would think there's a need to
06:44build a separate militia, for example.
06:48I don't know that you need that here on Long Island because we have the best in uniform,
06:53highly trained individuals, and I trust them.
06:56I trust them.
06:58We all trust them.
07:01So put that aside.
07:04Put that aside.
07:07We'll discuss that later.
07:10But anybody making the claim that we need more reinforcements than these individuals,
07:15who are also backed up by the New York State Police, who I believe in, there are enough
07:20professionally trained, full-time people dedicated to the cause of keeping you safe.
07:28Let me just point that out.
07:33Let's get to some progress.
07:34Let's get to the progress we're here to talk about today.
07:37One thing that's clear is our efforts are working.
07:40By forming the first interstate task force on illegal guns, which means that there are
07:47now, as a result of my efforts, 11 states, contiguous to New York and beyond, that are
07:54all on the same page, sharing data, sharing cases, doing everything they can to stop the
08:02pipeline of illegal guns coming to our streets up 95, and also those that have come in from
08:09Pennsylvania, where the laws, as you know, are vastly different than our laws here in
08:14the state of New York coming up Route 81.
08:16We know how to track them.
08:18We see them.
08:19And we're stopping them.
08:20We're also boosting coordination between all agencies, as I said, making unprecedented
08:25investments in local police.
08:27And here are some of the results.
08:28Just look at the numbers.
08:31Since I became governor in 2021, shootings on Long Island are down 47 percent.
08:40Think about this.
08:45Those who like to look at the history books, think about this.
08:49Last year, shootings on Long Island reached their lowest point in recorded history.
08:57On top of that last year record, we're down another 44 percent this year from then.
09:01And that's extraordinary.
09:03That is extraordinary.
09:06Since I took office, murders on Long Island are down 35 percent.
09:13That's amazing.
09:14Murders last year on Long Island were also the lowest on record in at least 50 years.
09:20So think about that.
09:22Process that.
09:25That was last year.
09:26Great record.
09:27This year, we're 50 percent lower than that record.
09:30So that's all the good news I wanted to share with you today.
09:33We're making major efforts to drive down violent crime and overall crime.
09:38And again, we're focusing on a lot of specific areas.
09:41My number one job was to stop the violent crimes, the shootings and the murders, because
09:47we could also be sitting here almost three years later and seeing those numbers go up
09:52and up and up.
09:54So do not take for granted that this was the normal course of events.
09:59It was a concerted effort.
10:00It was the teamwork that was built around this effort with Albany, but also our local
10:07officials, our local men and women in uniform.
10:11So I'm here to praise all of you.
10:14Overall crime this year is down 15 percent.
10:1715 percent down, not up 15 percent.
10:22But I'm not here to take a victory lap.
10:25I'm here to celebrate the collective efforts.
10:28We also know that one victim of gun violence is too many.
10:32And that means we still have work to do.
10:36And I'll also note the atrocity that occurred in Pennsylvania.
10:42I just spoke to the Pennsylvania governor.
10:44It shakes us to our core.
10:47It does create that sense of vulnerability once again, and we must fight against that.
10:52We must hold strong and condemn all acts of violence, but particularly those who try to
10:58silence those who run for office.
11:03That's egregious, and I will continue to condemn that and continue to support all of our agencies
11:09that protect everybody, everybody as they should.
11:14So how do we do that?
11:16In May, we awarded $127 million to local police departments and sheriff's office for new technology.
11:24This is how you get ahead of the bad guys, right?
11:27It's technology.
11:28This is our advantage.
11:29License plate readers, body cameras, patrol equipment, camera systems.
11:36These are critical tools that become expensive for local police departments.
11:40This is where we can play a role.
11:42Tell us what you need.
11:44We'll get it in the hands of the people who know how to use it.
11:48We can prevent crime, solve crimes, and ultimately improve public safety.
11:52And that's why I'm proud to announce that the Glenn Clove Police Department will be
11:57receiving $1.1 million to keep your residents safe.
12:12And I know that money is well spent, because I trust them.
12:15I trust them to do the right thing, and we're going to continue focusing on making sure
12:19we increase the amount of money that we give toward our local police officers.
12:25We secured a record $347 million, but I'm also focused on other areas of crime, as is
12:31your representatives in the legislature.
12:33We talk about other crimes that continue to be spiking as we focus on violent crime that
12:39pops up over here.
12:41What am I talking about?
12:43Retail theft.
12:45We weren't talking about that a couple of years ago, but the criminals have become so
12:49brazen that they're part of international shoplifting rings, and they're selling the
12:56merchandise that they stole from your local stores on the internet.
13:02That cannot stay, so we're finding ways to eradicate that as well.
13:06I've added $40 million, with the help of the men and women in the front row here, $40
13:11million more to establish dedicated retail theft teams within state police, the DA's
13:18offices, and local police departments.
13:20They will not get away with this.
13:22We will catch them red-handed, and they'll go after these brazen rings with the same
13:27focus that we use to drive down the gun violence.
13:32We're also protecting vulnerable communities from hate crimes.
13:37As the governor of a state that is so proud of its diversity, it's what separates us from
13:42everybody else.
13:44We're the place that people come for freedom from economic oppression, religious suppression,
13:52racial and ethnic strife.
13:53They come to this great country.
13:56My grandparents came, and they were so poor.
13:58They became migrant farm workers, domestic servants, eventually could work.
14:03My grandfather could make steel like my dad did.
14:06People come here for so many reasons, but to know at this particular time, we've seen
14:12this heartbreaking rise in anti-Semitism, especially after the atrocities of October
14:247th.
14:25I went there right afterward.
14:28I'll never get the images out of my head of what I saw.
14:32What really hurt, though, is coming back to our own country, our own cities, and seeing
14:38a rise in people who are so filled with hate that it spilled over into not just their words,
14:43but their actions on campuses and in communities and other places where people should be open-minded,
14:51embracing other ideas, challenging their own thoughts about the world, but never denigrating
14:57people because of their own religious beliefs.
15:01My friend, we cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that that's the reality in so many of
15:06our communities right now.
15:11We've seen it right here in Nassau County.
15:14Last year, a swastika was carved into a tree near the Holocaust Memorial Intolerance Center
15:18less than one mile from where we are today.
15:22A symbol, yes, but it's a manifestation of hatred, and we have to do a better job in
15:34teaching our children about what America really means, what it stands for, and how all of
15:41us as the adults and passing on the values to our children know we have to preserve this
15:45great union.
15:47It's an imperfect union for sure, but it's up to us to make it better.
15:52So we will never allow for this to stand.
15:56That's why I increased funding from our Securities Against Hate Crimes program.
16:00I increased it 40 percent from last year to $35 million so we have money for high-risk
16:07entities, our synagogues and places so they can buy the equipment they need so people
16:12feel safe when they come to worship.
16:15That is a basic right of people in this great state.
16:23So with our record investments and our record results, we're on our way, and we will not
16:29let up.
16:30We will not take our foot off the gas, and we'll continue investing in crime-fighting
16:34strategies that we now know will actually work.
16:38And again, it starts with your local police departments.
16:43Giving them the tools that they need, giving the mayor and the city council the support
16:46they need so they can make those investments.
16:48Do the hires.
16:49I can't tell you how many police officers and police chiefs I had to hire as a member
16:54of a town board for 14 years.
16:55I knew what I was looking for in these individuals.
16:58I wanted people who had the kindness of heart that they would help somebody cross the street
17:04or get a kitten out of a tree, but be as tough as they needed to be when the circumstances
17:09challenged them.
17:10That's what we get with our local police departments.
17:12That's why I believe in them.
17:14That's why I'll continue to support them.
17:15And as governor, I'll leave no stone unturned in my quest to give people what they deserve,
17:22and that is the security of knowing that they and their families will always be safe, free
17:26from anxiety and fear.
17:28So I want to thank all of you.
17:29I want to thank you for coming out here today to hear this good news, spread the good news,
17:33let people know if you're a criminal, your days are numbered, and we're coming after
17:38you.
17:39And let me introduce someone who is laser-focused in how he represents this part of our great
17:52state, his hometown, his home district, in Washington, D.C., to ensure that we have the
17:58resources to protect communities and to do everything else we need to do to ensure the
18:04safety and security and the well-being of our residents.
18:07Ladies and gentlemen, I give you our congressman, Congressman Tom Suozzi.
18:22Let's hear it for Governor Kathy Hochul.
18:24You know, the governor said in her remarks, the governor said that she came here to praise
18:31law enforcement, but I want you to join me in praising Governor Kathy Hochul.
18:36We're so grateful to you, Governor.
18:38We really appreciate you.
18:42I also want to...
18:44Is it Steven?
18:45I think Steve and Teddy look very good up here.
18:47Let's give them a round of applause.
18:51Governor, we appreciate and we know your commitment to law enforcement, and it means so much to
18:57us.
18:58And it means so much to me that you're helping my hometown of the city of Glen Cove here
19:01today as well.
19:02So we're very, very grateful to you.
19:04We're grateful to the members of the state legislature that is here as well.
19:08Can the assembly members and state senators please stand up, and let's give them a round
19:11of applause.
19:15You know, I became the mayor of the city of Glen Cove in 1994, and I've been through a
19:25lot of journeys since then, a lot of ups and a lot of downs.
19:28You know about some of those downs of mine, right, Governor?
19:32And I know that the most important part of public service is trying to help people.
19:37And I know that you are committed to helping people.
19:39You're committed to trying to make the world a better place to live in.
19:42And what you're doing here today with the state legislature, by providing this money
19:46to law enforcement, is helping people's lives to be better.
19:50And you know, there are a lot of people that demagogue about these different issues.
19:53I want people to remember that Nassau County has the lowest crime rate in the United States
19:57of America for any community over half a million people.
19:59It's a very, very safe place.
20:04And because of the work of the governor and the state legislature and the county police
20:08force and the local police forces and all of you, it's even safer than it's ever been.
20:13So that means a tremendous amount.
20:15And Suffolk County is one of the ten safest places in the country as well.
20:19So we can't let people demagogue on this issue to know what such a safe place it really is
20:25here.
20:26And the city of Glen Cove, because we live on a peninsula, we have our own police department
20:29here.
20:30Our crime rate is actually half the crime rate of Nassau County.
20:31Sorry, Nassau County guys, but Glen Cove.
20:37So when I first became mayor in 1994, the police were working in trailers.
20:42And we worked to get them a new police department.
20:44And we worked to make our law enforcement stronger than ever.
20:47And this money today will make them more effective and stronger than they've ever been before.
20:53So governor, not only on behalf of the people of my district, but for the people of Glen
20:57Cove and the people of all of Long Island, the people of New York State, we thank you
21:01for your commitment to law enforcement.
21:02We praise you for it.
21:04We're grateful to you and the state legislature for providing this money.
21:07And let's keep on moving forward together.
21:09Now I'd like, you know, you give a round of applause.
21:14So now I want to introduce a very good friend of mine.
21:19He's been a state assemblyman since 1995, I think he was elected.
21:23What year were you elected, Ted?
21:24What's your name again?
21:25Chuck.
21:27Chuck.
21:28Chuck.
21:29Chuck.
21:30Chuck.
21:31Chuck.
21:32What year were you elected?
21:331995?
21:342005.
21:352005.
21:362005.
21:37So he's a great guy.
21:38He's been a great Glen Cover for decades.
21:39He does so much.
21:40He cares so much about people.
21:41He's got a national role among Jewish legislators that he's, the governor was talking about,
21:46the hate crimes against Jewish Americans these days and the anti-Semitism that exists.
21:51There was a poll the other day that said people in New York City that are Jewish don't feel
21:54safe.
21:56We appreciate the governor's commitment to eradicating anti-Semitism and making people
22:00feel safe.
22:01But a great leader on that topic and so many other topics is our great friend, New York
22:05State Assemblyman Chuck Levine.
22:19And let's hear it for Tom Swasey.
22:26Without whom I wouldn't be in office in the first place.
22:30Stories for another day.
22:31But here's a story for today.
22:33And I first want to extend the best wishes and many thanks to Rabbi Shurgel and Pastor
22:38Roger Williams is here as well.
22:42But I had the unique opportunity of serving two separate terms, two separate tenures as
22:50general counsel for North Country Reform Temple.
22:54Now you might wonder, did that experience go to good use?
22:57Well I would have to say this.
22:59That I think I learned more about bare knuckle politics, in fact more about brass knuckle
23:04politics by representing North Country Reform Temple than I ever learned in secular government
23:10whatsoever.
23:11But we're able to put those skills and those techniques to good work.
23:17And I want to say what an honor and a pleasure it is, as always, to be with my old friend
23:22Governor Kathy Hochul who's just done a remarkable job for the people of the state of New York.
23:27And that's an applause line right there.
23:37So let me just point out a few other things about what is going on in the state of New
23:41York thanks to Governor Hochul's leadership.
23:45We are now, and this was a battle, protecting children from the bad actors on social media.
23:51We wouldn't be doing that without Governor Hochul.
23:59We have focused on domestic terrorism and extremism, establishing, and this is thanks
24:06to Governor Hochul, a special unit in the Division of Homeland Security to attack that
24:12crisis.
24:13Forty million dollars has been allocated, thank you Governor, to combat retail theft
24:21in New York State and to provide more money to provide tax credits for establishments,
24:28for businesses that have lost money because of retail theft.
24:33Thirty-five million to combat hate crimes, as the Governor had mentioned.
24:38This may not sound like a major controversy for a lot of people, but it is.
24:45We had enacted in New York State the Red Flag Law, the extreme risk protection order process,
24:51which has saved lives time and again.
24:54But in order for people to be able to get an extreme risk protection order, they had
25:00to go to court and purchase an index number.
25:03Time consuming and some people just don't have the money to do that.
25:06Thank you Governor Hochul, that has been exempted in New York State.
25:11These are important matters.
25:17These are life and death matters that affect the people of the state of New York.
25:21I'm going to mention one final thing.
25:25Thanks to Governor Hochul, New York State has adopted the Judicial Security Protection
25:31Act.
25:32As Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, I'm very proud to have worked closely with the
25:36Governor to engineer this, to bring this about.
25:39Not an easy lift, I will tell you.
25:42Not an easy lift at all.
25:43Nothing in legislation is an easy lift, but especially this.
25:46Judges, their staff, their family, can now receive protection to have their identifying
25:52information scrubbed from the internet.
25:55So important, especially in this day and age.
25:57We know what a challenge this day and age is.
26:00But that challenge that we face is a challenge we face together as elected officials, as
26:07citizens of the state of New York, as people involved in law enforcement and as we know,
26:14we are as proud as can be of our law enforcement in the state of New York, in Nassau County
26:20and in the city of Glen Cove.
26:23With that in mind, I want to introduce an old and dear friend, Chief Bill Witten, who
26:30heads the Glen Cove Police Department, of which we are all so proud.
26:34But before you come up, Bill, I just remembered something.
26:37And Governor Hochul, thank you as well, because we were able to get a quarter of a million
26:41dollars to the Glen Cove Police Department last year for new squad cars.
26:45So enjoy those new cars, Chief.
26:48Please, a warm welcome for Chief Bill Witten.
27:00Oh my God, I have to go after these three?
27:03This is going to be disastrous.
27:05Chuck, I'd like to tell you that $250,000 for the new cars has been well spent and we've
27:10only crashed two of them so far.
27:13But they weren't told.
27:14We were able to make them work.
27:17But seriously, on a serious note, Governor Hochul, I would like to thank you from the
27:23bottom of my heart for supplying us with this funding that we're going to be able to use
27:28to enhance our police department's efforts to keep this community, one of the safest
27:32communities in Glen Cove, to live in the state of New York.
27:36I can't say enough about the men and the women of the Glen Cove Police Department, the dedication
27:42that they have to follow through with criminal investigations, to see it through, to make
27:49arrests, to prevent arrests by community outreach.
27:52We do a lot of work in the city of Glen Cove in the school system, amongst other areas
27:57that I believe really pay extreme dividends for us.
28:01And we're going to continue to do that.
28:03I do believe, and I really do believe this, that there's a fine line between law and order
28:11and societal decay.
28:13And with the funding level that you've just given us, we're going to be able to work to
28:20keep this community as safe as it is right now and possibly even get safer.
28:25I would also like to mention to you, Governor, that the city of Glen Cove Police Department
28:29has an excellent working relationship with the state of New York police.
28:34Steve Yudis and I have become friendly over the years, and all I need to do is pick the
28:39phone up and call him, and we get what we need.
28:42And Steve, I want to thank you for that.
28:46So, Stevens Martinez told me I only had like 90 seconds to talk.
28:55I wanted to roast a few people, but I think I'm going to have to put that on hold.
29:00I do want to reach out right now and thank the mayor, Mayor Pamela Panzermack, for giving
29:06us all the resources that we need on a local level.
29:09You've always been there for us.
29:15You've always been there for us, even when you were on the city council.
29:19And I want to personally thank you and Marcia and everybody else that's here from the city
29:24council.
29:25Okay, Zozo, and who else is hiding back there, there she is, okay.
29:31For supporting us each and every time that we go to the mayor and the council and we
29:35ask for resources, we get it.
29:38We never get stonewalled, and I want to thank you all for that.
29:43Congressman Suozzi, you seem taller these days, how are you pulling that off?
29:50Any event, Tom, as I like to call him, I've known him forever, mentioned that we were
29:55in trailers when he took over as mayor.
29:58We were.
29:59And within a short period of time, I believe it was a little over a year, we moved into
30:04the current facility that we're in now, and it's been palatial for us, and we're certainly
30:11outgrowing it as the community gets bigger and bigger, but we're making it work.
30:16And I thank you for everything that you did for us while you were mayor, while you were
30:20county executive, and now we're your congressman.
30:23From the bottom of our hearts, we know you're behind us.
30:25Chuck Levine, I'd like to also thank you for what you've done for us.
30:29Anytime that we've called you up and asked you, you've been there for us.
30:33Whether it's funding, or an ear to talk to, or a local issue, we know we can come to you
30:39and thank you.
30:40Okay?
30:41Thank you all.
30:42At this time, could everyone please remain in their seats?