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Media all set.

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Thank you all for joining for our community briefing.

I have with me here Deputy Mayor Owens, Latif Johnson Kinsey from our mayor's office to reduce gun violence, and Chief Joe Cecil.

You'll be hearing from all of them in a little bit.

So just to go over the agenda real quick, we will do our health update, in this case, our summer health update, which we always do thanks to Dr.

Katie Anderson and the Anadoga County Health Department team.

We'll cover our ComStat data as again, we always do.

Give an update on school zone traffic enforcement, our online residential and commercial permitting process.

Quick update on trash and recycling carts and some of the safety metrics associated with that.

Still relatively new program.

And then we want to talk about CDLs.

And we'll open it up to questions.

So on the health front, a number of things that I just want to cover.

Number one, I think any of us that have spent any amount of time outside know there are mosquitoes around.

And in addition to being a pest can create serious health issues.

So we've had uh two Onadaga County residents that have been hospitalized because of uh mosquito related um infections, um those being related to eastern equine encephalitis and West Nile virus.

So those are the two major concerns.

Um issues in the city yet, but obviously still something that we're very conscious of.

So just want to encourage uh people to use EPA approved repellents uh when you're spending time outside.

Uh of course, uh within your yard in the area that you control, uh keeping any standing water out of there is also helpful.

Uh rabies, something that we don't hear a lot about, but uh but the county health department did want us to encourage us to mention it.

So um they've been getting increased reports of bites coming from bats, cats, dogs, uh, and other wild animals.

And so um just want to remind folks that if you uh are bitten, um please seek medical care to address the issues.

Um, certainly uh don't want to see anybody end up with rabies or any other uh avoidable injuries.

Umasles, something that you wouldn't think we'd be talking about in 2025, but we are thankfully no reported cases of measles here in Onadaga County, but cases have been identified in other parts of New York and throughout the country.

So just want to encourage parents to make sure your children are up to date with their MMR vaccines.

Finally, again, tis the season, although uh these days uh it's almost becoming it really is a year-round issue.

Um, tick-borne disease diseases.

I think uh the difference, of course, this time of year is not only is the environment ripe for ticks, but uh we're spending more time outdoors.

So uh this is really peak activity for our peak season for tick activity and uh of course the related illnesses, uh Lyme disease being uh the most prevalent, and just encourage folks to take preventative measures, check yourself for ticks uh when you're outside, wear protective clothing wherever possible, and use tick repellents.

And of course, if you do find a tick on you or your pet for that matter, uh remove it promptly and seek medical care uh as uh as appropriate.

So uh those are the main issues the county health department raised.

You can find information on these issues and other health concerns on the county's website, ongov.net slash health.

All right, shifting to crime stat.

So I'm gonna go over our ComStat statistics and then turn it over to both uh Chief Cecil and Latif to dig a little bit deeper into them.

We always provide an update on our Crime Stat report.

Um we do want to dig a little bit deeper today given uh the significant reduced crime statistics that we're seeing.

So uh first I want to look at year over year the graph that you're looking at, which is on our Comstat report, which we public week weekly, publish weekly on uh our website.

So just go to SYR.gov, type Comstat into the search bar, and again you can find uh the most uh the latest Comstat report as well as previous Comstat reports.

So year over year, as you can see, virtually all blue.

Last week it was all blue.

We saw a little uptick in robberies, two more this year than the same time last year.

So that is uh slightly up.

But when you look at the numbers, uh homicides down 33.3%.

Um we have uh violent crime overall, eight down 18% year over year, property crime down 29.2%.

Want to give specific attention to stolen vehicles, which is down year over year, 51.7%.

So overall part one crime down year over year more than 27%.

So that is significant.

Um looking at the five-year average, um, comparing current statistics, also important to get a broader perspective.

And what you're seeing this year compared to the five-year average, again, is um it is uh uh a downward trend.

So uh a few that I want to call out overall crime, uh, part one crime this year compared to the five year average down 11.3 percent, violent offenses are down 25.7, and property crime down 7.1.

Uh again, I want to point to stolen vehicles.

Um, that has been a significant contributor to property crime over the past five years, really past few years, but um, we are seeing improvements there.

So our goal in sharing this information is uh not to declare victory, um uh not to let our guard down.

Uh one homicide, one crime is one too many in the city of Syracuse.

And for those that have been victims to crime, uh, these numbers don't matter, and and we're very sensitive to that.

Um, but it is important to be uh open and transparent with the data to inform people's uh opinions and also their actions.

And again, we're seeing uh positive, uh significant downward trends.