New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Thursday announced more than $13.3 million in funding for law enforcement agencies to continue fighting gun violence in the 17 counties currently participating in a state initiative. A few of the counties are in the Hudson Valley.
The state's Gun Involved Violence Elimination – or GIVE — initiative targets communities served by 20 police departments in those 17 counties, which report 85 percent of violent crime in the state outside of New York City. The grants are shared among police departments, offices of the district attorney and sheriff, and probation departments. Funding is headed to these departments in the City of Poughkeepsie in Dutchess County; the cities of Newburgh and Middletown in Orange County; and in Westchester County, the Yonkers and Mount Vernon police. Kingston and Spring Valley, in Ulster and Rockland Counties, respectively, receive funding as they target aggravated assaults, which drive violent crime in their respective communities.
