Monday at police headquarters, Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan and Police Chief Brendan Cox gave an update on crime and public safety.
While the prevailing sentiment says that Albany isn’t safe, Chief Cox says the reality is violent crime is down. He compared data from this year to the same time period last year.
“One of the ways that we have to address perception is get our numbers out there so people understand that crime is down in this city. So when we look at property crime overall, all crime is down. Property crime, burglaries are down 25% so year over year, 171 to 129. Larcenies are down 943 to 695, a 26% change,” said Cox, who is serving as interim chief while the city prepares to elect a new mayor. He added there has been a 63% decrease in the number of shootings, while motor vehicle theft is down by 26%. Murder and sexual assaults are both down by 50%…