In response to Westchester County Executive George Latimer’s statements that crime is down in Westchester County, Dan Branda offers the following statement:
I am alarmed with how easily and intentionally County Executive George Latimer lied about something as simple and independently verifiable as the growing crime rates in Westchester County.
Let’s be clear: George Latimer created a narrative--that crime is down “again” in Westchester--and then he cherry-picked a random year as a point of comparison. Why are we comparing crime rates to 2017? Why not 1967? Why not 1867?
And right there standing with him, taking marching orders, is my opponent Chairman Vedat Gashi.
Instead of two-stepping in time behind Latimer’s lies, the Board of Legislators needs to immediately hold a hearing on Crime in Westchester because crime is up across the board and 20% overall since last year. Crime is also trending up. Putting aside the pandemic, crime is up 16% compared to 2019.
Rather than offering self-congratulations, let’s do the hard work to stop growing crime in Westchester
According to New York State’s data–provided by Westchester County–crime is up 20% year-over-year and up 16% when compared to pre-pandemic crime in 2019.
Westchester Crime Rates Compared to 2021:
- Violent Crime is up 11%
- Property Crime, is up 22.5%
- Aggravated Assault is up 10%
- Burglary is up 4%
- Larceny is up 25%