BUFFALO, N.Y. — Governor Kathy Hochul gave promising news Monday about crime across Western New York.
While talking about the state's efforts to bring down shootings and gun crimes she brought up the increase in car thefts and mentioned Buffalo and Rochester as two of the worst cities in America for car thefts after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hochul said the state has taken a similar approach to car thefts as it has gun crimes and they've seen results.
"Car thefts exploded after the pandemic mostly upstate and with really troubling spikes in Rochester and Buffalo, two cities I visited at the end of last summer to try and figure out what is going on here...In a matter of months, we drove down the number of car thefts dramatically, car thefts are down 55% in Rochester and down 45% in Buffalo."
Governor Hochul said a higher investment in youth intervention programs is one of the big reasons for this drop.