The Mohawk Valley receives $1.54 million as state officials report fewer shootings in participating communities.
Utica gun violence figures were part of a new statewide public safety announcement Thursday, Oct. 1. Gov. Kathy Hochul said Utica was among 13 police departments in New York’s Gun Involved Violence Elimination initiative that reported no firearm-related deaths during the first eight months of 2026. The state also announced nearly $36 million in GIVE funding, including $1,539,256 for the Mohawk Valley.
The announcement offers an encouraging sign for local families. It also calls for care in how the numbers are read. No reported firearm-related deaths does not mean no shootings, no injuries or no other violent crime. The state’s 19 percent drop in shootings refers to participating GIVE communities as a group, not a verified 19 percent decline in Utica alone.
The funding and statistics appear in the governor’s Oct. 1 announcement. The Division of Criminal Justice Services gun violence page confirms the program’s reporting rules and identifies Utica as a participating agency.
What the new funding covers
The award totals $35,987,983. It supports local law enforcement agencies and their partners in 21 counties outside New York City. Those partners can include district attorneys, sheriffs and probation departments. The program serves 28 police agencies across the state.
GIVE is administered by DCJS. The state says the money can support personnel, overtime, equipment and technical assistance. Participating agencies must have a comprehensive plan that uses evidence-based strategies to reduce shootings and firearm-related violent crime. In plain language, agencies are expected to use approaches backed by evidence rather than spend the grant without a prevention plan.
Hochul described the awards as part of continued investment in public safety. “Keeping New Yorkers safe is my top priority,” she said in the release.
The announcement provides a regional amount for the Mohawk Valley. That total should not be described as a grant entirely to the Utica Police Department. Readers can review the state’s county and agency award breakdown to see how the money is distributed.
Selected regional awards
- Mohawk Valley: $1,539,256.
- Central New York: $3,598,127.
- Capital Region: $5,102,896.
- Western New York: $9,014,185.
- Finger Lakes: $6,579,486.
Regional totals show where funding is going. They do not, by themselves, measure which community is safest or which agency has been most effective. Those questions require local data, population context and a clear account of how the funding is used.
What the shooting figures show
According to the governor’s office, shooting incidents involving injury in GIVE communities fell 19 percent from January through August 2026 compared with the same period in 2025. Officials also said shooting victims were at the lowest level since the state began tracking these data about two decades ago.
Thirteen participating departments reported no firearm-related deaths during that eight-month period. The release names Utica, Mount Vernon, Newburgh, Schenectady and Watertown among them. It does not provide a complete Utica incident table in the text of the announcement.
DCJS explains that GIVE agencies report three distinct measures: shooting incidents involving injury, people shot and people killed by gun violence. These measures are related, but they are not interchangeable. One incident can involve more than one victim. A reduction in incidents also does not automatically establish the same percentage change in deaths.
The state reported a 25 percent decline in shootings in Syracuse and Rochester and a 24 percent decline in Suffolk County for the same January-through-August comparison. Those are individual agency figures; they should not be applied to the Mohawk Valley.
How to understand the longer comparison
The governor’s office also cited a 67 percent decline in shooting incidents involving injury in GIVE communities since 2021. That is a different comparison from the year-over-year figure. The 19 percent and 67 percent numbers should not be added together or treated as two measures of the same time span.
Officials credit sustained funding and partnerships for the progress. The reported trend is important, but a press release alone cannot establish how much of the change was caused by a single program. A sound assessment would examine local conditions, implementation and results over time.
Why the announcement matters in Utica
Utica is listed by DCJS as a Tier I GIVE agency. The agency’s website says Tier I departments focus on reducing shootings and shooting fatalities. Tier II agencies focus on reducing firearm-related violent crimes. This distinction helps readers understand what the program asks different departments to track and address.
For residents, the local death figure is meaningful because it describes a specific harm during a specific period. It is also a starting point for further questions. Are nonfatal shootings down? How are grants supporting prevention? What role do neighborhood partners play? Answers should come from local records and officials, not assumptions based on the statewide headline.
Assemblymember Marianne Buttenschon, in the state release, welcomed the Mohawk Valley results while emphasizing continued work. Her remarks called for keeping illegal guns away from young people and holding accountable adults who draw them into violence.
That focus places responsibility on both immediate safety and longer-term prevention. The grant announcement describes law enforcement resources. It should not be confused with a complete inventory of community services, youth programs or victim support available in Utica.
How residents can follow the results
Readers who want to assess the program can use the state’s public reporting tools instead of relying on a single headline.
- Start with the DCJS gun violence page and open the GIVE Shooting Activity Dashboard.
- Select Utica and check the time period shown.
- Compare the same months across years rather than a partial year against a full year.
- Review incidents, victims and deaths separately.
- Read the agency award breakdown before describing a regional grant as local department funding.
These steps make the discussion more useful. They allow residents to recognize progress while asking informed questions about spending and outcomes. When new figures become available, the reporting period should remain clear.
For now, the verified announcement is specific: the Mohawk Valley is receiving $1.54 million through the latest GIVE awards, and state officials report no firearm-related deaths in Utica through August. Residents can follow the public dashboard and local agency updates to see whether that progress continues.
