Crime Decline
Crime remains a major concern for many Americans, particularly those who live in urban areas like Rochester. However, crime across the nation has been decreasing, albeit with a spike from 2020 to 2022 due to global and economic instability. Crime in Rochester has fallen over the last few years. According to WXXI News, crime declined across all categories. Dr. Irshad Altheimer, a professor in RIT’s Criminal Justice department and the director of the Center for Public Safety Initiatives, shares, “We have witnessed very encouraging reductions. If the current trends hold, Rochester may experience its lowest level of violence in nearly a decade.”
Through the first quarter of 2026, Rochester had no gun-related homicides — a stark contrast to the first quarter of 2021, when the city saw 11 gun-related homicides. Dr. Charles LoFaso, a lecturer in the Criminal Justice department and a former detective for the Rochester Police Department (RPD), explained how crime has returned to pre-pandemic trends. “Life has largely returned to normal since the end of the pandemic, and community investments in after-school programs and recreational opportunities for young people have helped provide structure and alternative options to idleness and crime,” LoFaso stated.
Property crime generally has been declining since 2012. Larceny and burglary have each fallen to roughly half their 2012 levels, though motor vehicle theft increased in 2019 and has remained high since. LoFaso cautions that credit should not go entirely towards law enforcement. “While police leaders enjoy taking credit for lower crime numbers, the reality is that police agencies have little impact on cyclical trends,” he stated.
Loss of Privacy
Alongside Rochester’s decline in crime, RPD has ramped up its enforcement strategies, raising questions about whether Rochester residents can lead truly private lives away from the watchful eye of law enforcement. Take a stroll in the city, and you may see a newer installation: blue light cameras. These cameras are placed around the city and are monitored 24/7.
“The cameras occasionally capture crime incidents as they are occurring and can track vehicles and offenders during a post-incident investigation,” LoFaso explains. However, Dr. Altheimer shares, “In isolation, these cameras do not prevent crime. They work most effectively when incorporated into a broader crime reduction strategy.”
The Police Accountability Board (PAB) conducted a report on RPD surveillance methods, finding that blue light cameras were disproportionately dispersed in minority neighborhoods. The Rochester Beacon conducted a review and found that predominantly white areas accounted for 30% of the city’s crime but only 20% of the blue light camera locations. Understanding disparities in enforcement allows overseers to ensure that operations are data-driven and carried out fairly.
“In public, people have no reasonable expectation of privacy and are subject to surveillance by both private and government video monitoring,” Dr. LoFaso commented.
Balancing the public’s interest in privacy with the goal of crime reduction requires the police to tread a fine line.
