Hochul: Duanesburg trooper shooting highlights danger law enforcement faces

Gov. Kathy Hochul made her first public comments Tuesday about the state trooper shot during a traffic stop in Duanesburg last week.

Her comments came Tuesday morning in Albany, while at the meeting of the Interstate Task Force. The task force was created last year to bring a statewide approach to fight interstate gun trafficking.

Hochul talked about how she got the news – at a funeral.

“This is something we learned about, literally sitting at the funeral for another trooper. While we were up at the funeral of Captain [Christopher] Garrow, who lost his life at age 47 to illnesses he contracted from serving at the site of 9/11. So while we’re going through this experience, the superintendent gets a text sitting next to me that another trooper has been shot,” said Hochul. “Thank God he’s OK. I want to think of this as a sober reminder of all the danger the officers face every day.”

Meantime, New York state’s gun involved violence elimination initiative now supports 28 police departments, district attorneys’ offices, probation departments, and sheriffs’ offices across the state.

“The more we build together a team of people working together in real-time, the stronger we are against the criminals, and also leveraging the most sophisticated technology that we can,” said Hochul. “Gathering the best minds in law enforcement and public policy, and also doing something that’s critically important – connecting the dots before a tragedy happens.”