City of Rochester
News Release
(Friday, July 22, 2022) – “Thirty-five
of the forty-two murders that have occurred on our City’s streets since January
1 were caused by gun
violence with our latest murder being an on-duty police officer,” said
Councilmember Michael A. Patterson. “I grieve for every single person
killed on our streets and for their surviving families – including Officer
Mazurkiewicz’s loved ones and his fellow police officers.
I call on the Governor, the New York State
Assembly and the New York State Senate to pass, without delay, a Dangerousness
Standard for New York State tied specifically and particularly to gun charges.
The federal court system has a Dangerousness Standard and so do many other
States in the United States.
In the City of Rochester, Black and Brown
citizens are most affected by gun violence and state law is failing to protect
them when our Judges lack the discretion to remand, or keep in jail, those
people who terrorize our communities with guns. This is nothing new, I
have been asking for a Dangerousness Standard to be added to state law for
months.
So, I want to once again call on the Governor
and our State Delegation to pass legislation in Albany that will give the
judiciary the ability to apply a Dangerousness Standard to appropriate
offenders charged with illegal gun possession and other related gun
crimes. This reform would allow the system to keep many of those most
likely to engage in gun violence off of our streets and hopefully create one
more valuable tool in our fight against the gun-violence plaguing Rochester.”
###