Federal, State, and Local Law Enforcement teaming up to stop recent spike in violence
After 34 homicides in the city of Rochester within the first 6 months of this year, Federal, State, and Local law enforcement are coming together to fight the recent increase in violent crimes.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Rochester community saw two press conferences. One held by Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter, and one held by Rochester Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan. Both press conferences dealt with the recent ongoing violence within the city of Rochester.
Rochester residents will now see an increase of patrol by New York State Police, Monroe County Sheriff Deputies, and the Rochester Police Department. While Federal agencies will be working with all three agencies to go after gun violence and gun related incidents.
Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter said his office will support the Rochester Police Department through precision policing and by putting deputies in some of the most troubled areas of the city. Baxter then went on to say "We're gonna rely on our friends from the ATF to study that and bring that forward, and they're doing that right now... people, our federal partners, Rochester Police Department works with them all the time."
Shortly after Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter’s press conference, Rochester Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan held a press conference addressing the violence. Chief Herriott-Sullivan stated "Looking at the data, some of the things I looked at were percentages of people who were released on criminal possession of a weapon charges, and you had a good 60% on average, particularly in 2020, who were out on charges that were $5,000 or less, so at the end of the day. My feeling is, however, we have this structured, we just have to do something different, so my decision was, when we have these sort of shootings and weapons charges, to go after them federally,"
Chief Herriott-Sullivan also stated that she is grateful for the New York State Police and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office for stepping up to assist her agency with fighting crime within the city.
Chief Herriott-Sullivan stated that she will be meeting with U.S. Attorney James Kennedy Jr and Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley within the coming weeks about going after the suspects in gun related incidents to be charged federally.