One of the privileges I’ve enjoyed as Ulster County District Attorney has been the opportunity to work with, learn from and share ideas with prosecutors from across the country. Our Restorative Justice Program in which we partner with Ulster County Probation and the Family of Woodstock was modeled on a Restorative Justice Program established in Denver Colorado by DA Beth McCann. DA McCann, after learning about our Intimate Partner Violence Intervention Program, which has been nationally recognized, is starting her own IPVI Program modeled after ours. From Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez to Los Angeles DA George Gasćon we have met and shared best practices over the last four years.

DA Gasćon is again running to be Los Angeles DA. His opponent paints a picture of out-of-control crime, although the data indicates that, much like here, LA is becoming safer.

The first casualty of an election is at times the truth. Here in Ulster County, the crime rate has gone down. It is important for the citizens of Ulster County to know the truth and to have trust in the work of our office.

The NYS Crime Index from the Division of Justice Services indicates that the overall crime rate in Ulster County has gone down in each year from 2019 to 2022. Statistics are not yet tabulated for 2023. The Index shows that the violent crime rate has gone down each year from 2019 to 2022. The property crime rate has gone down each year from 2019 to 2022. The total crime rate in Ulster County was also lower than any of the surrounding counties in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Statistics from The Gun Involved Violence Elimination Initiative which our office does in partnership with the Kingston Police Department shows that after a spike in shootings during the pandemic, total incidents in 2022 and 2023 are sharply lower than in 2019. At this point in 2023, the total number of shooting incidents is less than 50% what it was in 2019.
The reduction in gun violence was accomplished in part through focused deterrence. Most crimes are committed by a very small percentage of people in our community. Our office has focused on successfully prosecuting the “top offenders” who are responsible for most of the gun violence. We have also organized outreach to key stakeholders in the community and coordinated with them to ensure wide ranging support for our violence reduction efforts. It is important to continue the collaboration between law enforcement agencies, our office, and the community if we are to continue to improve public safety. Our Intimate Partner Violence Intervention Program, once again done in partnerships with local law enforcement agencies, has seen a County-wide reduction in Domestic Violence incidents in each of the last four years and in each year the number of incidents was less than in 2019. This was accomplished at a time when NYS Comptroller found that the number of domestic violence victims increased in 2022 by 8.7% in upstate NY when compared to 2019.

Our office has made huge strides in the last four years in modernizing and addressing the extraordinary amount of work now required by the new discovery laws. Our case management has been totally digitalized. We have created a discovery unit to support our ADA’s which is one of the best in the state. Our staff is required to consistently work long hours to complete the work and they have met the challenge and have acted above and beyond the call of duty.

Thank you for allowing me the honor of serving this great community.