City of Rochester
News Release
Partnership will allow the City to Access the Brady Center’s National Expertise
(Tuesday, November 30, 2021) – Mayor Lovely A. Warren was joined today by City Council Vice President Willie J. Lightfoot and RPD Chief David M. Smith to announce a partnership with The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The agreement will allow Rochester to utilize the Brady Center’s national reach to analyze crime trends and prevention efforts in Rochester compared to other cities and leverage that knowledge to protect our neighborhoods. Today’s announcement is the culmination of work by The Roc Against Gun Violence Coalition. The original recommendation was made by the Coalition’s Advocacy Committee chaired by Kathy Richardson.
“Protecting our residents and our neighborhoods has always been important to me,” said Mayor Lovely Warren. “Before the pandemic, we were making great progress and crime dropped to its lowest point in 30 years. But, simply put, the last two years have been unacceptable. Too many families have suffered. Today’s announcement will ensure RPD has access to every tool, and all the information possible, to turn the tide and keep Rochester safe.”
The agreement will allow for information sharing between the City and the Brady Center, including data about the guns used to commit a crime. The goal is to improve understanding about the flow of illegal guns into Rochester and how to stop it. The Brady Center will utilize its broad understanding of gun violence in other cities to provide insight and information that can be used by the Rochester Police Department.
“Today is an important milestone in our work to protect our families,” said City Council Vice President Lightfoot. “Figuring out how illegal guns get onto our streets and in the hands of criminals is key to stopping the violence we are seeing. This agreement will provide the data necessary to do this essential work.”
As part of the agreement, the Brady Center will produce a public report detailing its analysis and provide the City with recommendations for action. That report is anticipated to be released at some point in 2022. However, the overall effort will continue beyond the report so the RPD can continue to benefit from the partnership.
Read the Memorandum of Understanding between the City and the Brady Center.
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