Goals

I have been listening to people's concerns about public safety over the past several years.

Headlines about gun violence fill our news feeds on a regular basis. The opioid epidemic along with reports of Fentanyl and other drugs has gripped our communities with fear and tragedy. There are hate based attacks plaguing our state and nation, such as the horrible racist shooting that took place at the Tops Grocery Store in Buffalo in 2022.

We are faced with natural disasters such as flooding and wildfires and extreme storms.

All of these have caused fear of living in a society that feels unsafe, and that fear has caused division, more conflict, and prevented us from moving forward as people demand contradictory responses to deal with all of these situations.

While New York State has made advances to address the issues of gun violence, the opioid epidemic, and hate based crimes with common sense regulations of firearms, drug task forces, and task forces to study and address extremism in social media, these alone do not satisfy the overall goal of creating a safe and just society. Nor does the legislation passed to address the Climate Crisis fully address the other challenges to public safety that we live with everyday like catastrophic storms, pollution, or emergency healthcare events.

Ensuring public safety is more than reacting to someone committing a crime. It's much more complicated than that.

Public safety is achieved when we address the root causes of uncertainty, crime and emergency situations, have the appropriate response prepared when incidents occur, and have a plan for recovery and restoration after an incident takes place.

• Ensuring that we have a stable, sustainable economy in which everyone's basic needs are met, such as access to food, clean water, housing, education, childcare, healthcare, and transportation, we reduce the fear and uncertainty that leads to criminal behavior.

• By updating and improving the infrastructure we depend on every day, we address the uncertainty that extreme weather brings, reducing flooding, power outages, erosion, and other concerns as well as address the outcomes of the increased rate of Climate Change.

• Continuing to adopt and adapt laws and regulations, while still recognizing and respecting our rights, to address safety and health concerns such as gun and other violence, terrorism, extremism, Climate Disruption, pollution, and other concerns that are under human control keeps public safety as a priority actively being worked on in the state and reduces uncertainty in our society.

• Investing in all of our emergency services, making sure our service members have the best training, are well compensated for their dedication and service, and making sure that the emergency processes we have ensure the appropriate response to situations allows us to have confidence in being able to deal with any emergency event.

• Establishing better systems for recovery and justice is critical to ensuring public safety. When a catastrophic event occurs we need to know that we have the means to pick ourselves back up and continue living the lives that we desire. We can restore the power after the lines have been hit, rebuild after the flood, heal after a health emergency. It means that we can recover when a crime is committed, hold lawbreakers accountable, and, with a few exceptions for felonies, create a path to restoring the relationship between a person who has broken the law and the community.