LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. — A new Siena Poll says 61 percent of New Yorkers are worried about being victims of a crime.
More than half say safety in public places is a big concern. The college found these concerns have led to 40% of people spending $100 or more to protect themselves. Another 12% have spent more than $500 dollars.
They're buying guns, and security systems, and taking self-defense classes.
The poll also found about 1/10 of New Yorkers have been a victim of assault or burglary, with about 40% having seen a crime in progress.
“Crime isn’t just something that happens to others far away according to New Yorkers,” Don Levy, Siena College Research Institute’s director said. “While 87% say crime is a serious problem in our state and 57% say it is a problem in their community, a disturbingly high 61% say that they are worried about it happening to them, a majority are concerned about themselves or their loved ones being safe in public places and many are taking steps to protect themselves as best they can.”
“Is this the worst it’s ever been? Forty-one percent of all New Yorkers with little variation across most demographic groups, say that they’ve never been this worried about their personal safety.”
Levy continued to say, “New Yorkers across the entire state agree that crime is a serious problem but New York City residents are more likely to see crime as a serious problem in their community and as a threat to them personally compared to those that live in either the metro suburbs or upstate. And Gotham residents are two or more times more likely to have taken a self-defense class, joined a neighborhood watch, moved or purchased a gun in order to protect themselves than are residents of other parts of the state.”
2 On Your Side verified reports of violent crime, specifically shootings and homicides in the City of Buffalo.
Our source is the Buffalo Police Department.
"What are the violent crime numbers like here in Buffalo right now?" asked 2 On Your Side's Kelly Dudzik.
"So in Buffalo, our shootings year-to-date are down 41-percent. We've made significant strides on reducing our shootings through the strategies that we've been employing," said Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia.
At this time last year, Buffalo had 142 shootings. So far this year, 84 people have been shot in Buffalo.
Homicides are down 53-percent year-to-year with 43 homicides through this date in Buffalo last year and 20 so far this year.
"You look at overall violent crime, which is more than shootings. It's assaults, aggravated assaults, robberies. It's, you know, a wider net of what our statistics take in, and our violent crime is down right now another 12-percent," said Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia.
The police commissioner does say that property crimes are up significantly, driven mainly by the increase in stolen Kias and Hyundias. But we can Verify that violent crime is down in the City of Buffalo from this same time last year.
Have something you'd like us to Verify? Email us at verify@wgrz.com. You can also text us at 716-849-2200.
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