As the White House prepared to send National Guard troops into Memphis under the pretense of a “crime crackdown,” and threatened to follow with deployments in Chicago and New York, there appeared to be a disconnect.
In all of the regions, including the two cities President Donald Trump had already sent troops to, Washington, DC and Los Angeles, violent crime had fallen on average by more than 17% over the last year. That’s according to statistics by the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program under the FBI.
Locally, violent crime fell by 14% over the last year. Crime in all categories fell collectively by 28% according to the UCR and Syracuse Police Chief Joe Cecile. He credited the sizable drop to the state’s investment in human resources, technology, which includes drones, a robotic dog, license plate readers, and hundreds of cameras throughout the city.
“Almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week, we now have retired officers that have come back and they're watching over 500 cameras,” Cecile reported at a news conference this week. The cameras, he said, are “spotting things like individuals with guns about to do something violent, someone about to break into a car, someone doing a burglary, and they're able to alert 911 wanting to get officers there and prevent crimes.”
Governor Kathy Hochul said the crime drop phenomenon is statewide and it has long been her administration’s priority before the Trump administration started announcing deployments.
“This is not an intentional strategy in 2025 to say we don't need the National Guard,” Hochul responded when asked if she was trying to make a preemptive strike against President Trump's threats. “I've been doing this since August of '21. So, this is the culmination of all those years of work and investment and focus, laser focus. Because I said my number one priority is public safety.”
Hochul assured that the mission is not finished and that her office continues to work with communities all over the state to send a message that New York is safer than it once was and is not resting on its laurels.
