ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Governor was in Rochester on Wednesday for an unrelated event, but I got a chance to speak with her afterward about Patrick Dai, the Cornell student from Pittsford, accused of threatening to maim and kill Jewish students. This situation and others across the state that have people on edge and police working overtime.

Hochul said, “This is the melting pot of the nation and for New Yorkers to be at war with other New Yorkers because their passions are so inflamed over how they feel about what’s happening in the middle east, that cannot bleed into our society.”

But, it has. She says there’s been a surge in hate and bias incidents in the weeks following the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack. Because of it, she’s giving $50 million to local police departments to be more visible.
You will see that there are police officers form local communities protecting the synagogues, the yeshivas, the mosques and other places where people are feeling threatened. But college campus police are very involved in this as well.

And, that’s why another $25 million will be going to help schools, colleges and cultural centers with security measures.

“The students were talking to me about, they want to have security cameras, they want someone monitoring security cameras so they can feel safe again, Hochul said.

Every college is also now required by state law to have a toll-free number students can call to report threats.

“Don’t just let it be a repository for complaints, I want to know what steps have been taken to investigate those complaints and are they being brought to local police and are they being prosecuted by local DA’s offices. We’re going to run these cases all the way to the ground to make sure people know, you cannot get away with this here in the state of New York,” said Hochul.

The governor wouldn’t share too many specifics about Patrick Dai’s case specifically, but did tell me in addition to the federal charges he’s facing, state charges could be added.