There was a 41% decrease in confirmed shots fired, and a 50% decrease in murders over the last year, Albany leaders said on Monday morning. 

There has been a 25% drop in burglaries and 26% drop in motor vehicle theft over the last year.

Sexual assaults are also down.

The new data was released on Monday, during a public safety update held by Albany Police Chief Brendan Cox and Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan.

However, despite all the progress, more work must be done, Cox said.

“There have been 11 shootings in this city. That’s 11 shootings too many this year, but that is a 63% decrease,” he said.

Cox admitted despite the numbers showing a decrease in crime, there is still a perception about crime in the city that must be overcome.

“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,” Cox said.

When it comes to crime, Cox discussed four pillars his department looks at in the city to prevent it: enforcement, deterrence, prevention and education.

That includes looking at the root cause behind the crime, such as substance abuse disorders, mental health issues, or poverty. He credited his officers and community partners, including Pastor Mike Williams, and the local YMCA for their help.

“We’re also then not just prosecuting those folks. We’re actually instead connecting those folks to services,” Cox said. “So we’re using things like law enforcement assisted diversion to divert people out of the system and getting them help.”

Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan echoed the words of the chief.

“It’s not a crime crisis. It’s a health care crisis,” she said. “We have far too many people who are dealing with mental health issues, substance use issues, and are not getting the health care treatment that they need.”

There is also a summer youth employment program in the city.

“Statistically we know that it is engaging youth and helping them to see themselves in their future, to stay engaged, to stay involved, and to ultimately graduate from high school,” Sheehan said.

Sheehan also talked about many summer events this year for youth, including free movies at the Palace Theatre, more programs for teens, a new pool at Lincoln Park and a new community center in West Hill. Many programs are done in partnership with the YMCA.

“I feel like this is the summer, the time, and we have the investments to make. We have these programs. We’re funneling them all toward the purpose of investing in our young people,” said David Graham, with the YMCA and the Albany City School District.

Pastor Williams also talked about how he has been working with others to mentor youth, especially those with trouble in their lives.

“Instead of just letting them stay out there crying, we helped wipe away their tears,” Williams said. “We began to work with the probation department and began to work with some individuals on Mondays and Thursdays to try to help those individuals develop a mentorship that will help them stabilize their life to step up to be better men and women.”

It’s part of a program called The Power of Mentorship.

“A lot of the kids out there that are struggling with finding their way or lost hope, we found out that they lack people that can actually relate to what they were going through to help direct them in a better path,” Williams said. “We were able to bring women and men together to start meeting the needs of our community from another angle. So now we’re starting to see a change in the lives of these kids that thought there was no hope. Now they see light at the end of the tunnel.”

Cox said lots of extensive recruitment work is being done to address an officer shortage in the city.

“JointheAPD.com, I’ll plug that 1,000 times,” he said, pointing to a wristband with the URL printed on it.

“I’m very proud of the work that the women and the men do in this department,” Cox said. “They do amazing work every day. They do that in light of the fact that we still face a lot of staffing shortages.”

Cox also talked about the recent reduction in speed limits in the city from 30 to 25 miles per hour, and to 20 miles per hour in many school zones. There are also cameras in those areas that can ticket people who are going too fast.

“Overall, we’ve had a 14% reduction in crashes. And more importantly, we’ve had a 36% reduction in personal injury,” Cox said. “So we know when we reduce the speed limit, when there is a crash, we reduce the likeliness of injury in that crash.”

“We don’t have a quota in this city. I don’t tell our officers they have to write tickets. I would never do that. But we do enforce the law, and we do pull people over,” Cox said.