City of Newark Unveils "Safe Summer" Plan
Mayor Cory A. Booker, Acting Police Director Samuel A. DeMaio and Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn D. Murray held a press conference to unveil the City of Newark’s “Safe Summer” plan. The comprehensive strategy will focus on a collaborative city-wide effort with various municipal departments, law enforcement agencies and community partners to reduce crime, and strengthen community relations between the City of Newark’s Police Department and the residents it serves. The press conference was held at Calvary Gospel Church, located at 17 Lyons Avenue, in Newark’s South Ward. Also in attendance were the City of Newark’s Business Administrator Julien X. Neals, Esq., Corporation Counsel Anna Pereira, Deputy Mayor of Neighborhood Engagement Margarita Muñiz, Fire Director Fateen A. Ziyad, Inspector General James Wright, and the heads of several other municipal agencies as well as Council Member-at-Large Luis A. Quintana, South Ward Council Member Ras Baraka, and Central Ward Council Member Darrin Sharif. Students and faculty of the Calvary Christian School were also among the more than 150 residents who attended the press conference.
“The goal of our ‘Safe Summer’ plan is to strengthen relations between the police and the community to build a stronger and safer city. Block by block, from our mounted and motorcycle patrols to our foot patrols we will work together with our residents to establish one of the safest summers our City has ever experienced. This summer, we will have even more opportunities for our children to be involved in and will launch a Junior Police Academy to educate Newark’s youth about our first response agencies and careers in public safety,” said Mayor Booker.
“We partnered with the City to host this important press conference because we know the challenges our city’s Police Department has been facing in reducing violent crime. This to me is not a time for finger-pointing. We have to take the time to come together to make our community safer, and do what is necessary to be part of the solution,” said Reverend Stephen Davis, who has been pastor of the Calvary Gospel Church for the past 43 years.
Under the City of Newark’s “Safe Summer” plan, the Police Department will take more police officers from behind desks and deploy them in targeted areas to reduce crime. The Police Department will also partner with numerous houses of worship to enforce the city’s curfew ordinance and will establish a Junior Police Academy in collaboration with the Newark Fire Department and the Essex County Prosecutors’ Office, for Newark youth ages 10-14. The 8-week Junior Police Academy program is intended to increase the level of awareness among Newark’s youth about public safety and provides them with a better understanding of how the agencies work together. The police department will also launch “Community Patrols” with Super Summer Coordinators to distribute information on programs for financial empowerment, family success, and more. Also, for the first time this year’s Super Summer directory, which is a comprehensive calendar of nurturing, enriching, and empowering events and programs for Newark residents of all ages, will be given to police officers for distribution to the community.
Some of the measures the Police Department has already resumed as part of this strategy includes the resumption of mounted and motorcycle patrol units. In addition, the Department is now holding its evening roll calls out of the precincts and in the streets in order to build a stronger working relationship and familiarity with residents. The Department of Neighborhood and Recreational Services and Fire Department will also team up with the Police Department to conduct joint inspections of bars and taverns during the evening hours, as a further deterrent to criminal behavior associated with such establishments.
Acting Director DeMaio said, “During my 25 years as a member of the Newark Police Department, I have never seen the level of cooperation, energy, and support we have received from the Fire Department, the Prosecutor’s Office, and other law enforcement agencies to pull together as one public safety team to make our city safer. Currently people see a police officer in an air-conditioned car with windows which makes them seem unapproachable. We want to get away from that image. Let’s take what we’re doing inside the precinct and bring it outside to the community so they can see what we do.”
Acting Director DeMaio also said the Police Department’s new public safety strategy will be one of “rapid response” to problematic areas and will begin to host bus rides so that community leaders can point out areas of neighborhood concern directly to officers. Acting Director DeMaio also noted that the city’s 10 p.m. curfew will be enforced differently this year. Instead of taking curfew violators to police precincts, he has formed a partnership with churches throughout the City to become safe havens where children will be dropped off and engaged in positive evening activities until they are reunited with their families.
“During the summer, our goal is to be shoulder-to-shoulder with the Newark Police Department in providing support,” said Acting Prosecutor Murray. “Members of our ‘VIPER’ unit which consists of narcotics and anti-gang enforcement officers will be assigned to work with Newark Police Officers to provide them with additional manpower to patrol the streets. We do not want to arrest our way out of the problem, but when it comes to crimes such as carjacking, we take this very seriously. These types of crimes gravely disturb the peace within our community, which is why we intend to use stronger enforcement, such as our helicopter, to reduce vehicular police pursuits, to protect the lives of our residents and officers alike.”
During the announcement, Mayor Booker also commended Fire Director Ziyad for his plan to create a stronger Fire Department presence at city recreation centers and parks, in addition to implementing an “open fire house” policy to greater engage Newark’s youth and the community with the city’s public safety goals.
“Growing up as a kid in Newark, I remember how firehouses were always open to the community, and as a result, the community had a great connection to the Fire Department,” said Director Ziyad. “I want to bring this connection back, and make the firehouses open to the community again. I am also excited about the Newark Fire Department’s role with the establishment of our city’s Junior Police Academy which will foster more empathy for public safety in our community. I look forward to working together with the Police Department and Prosecutor’s Office to make this summer the safest summer for our City.”
Other partners in the “Safe Summer” initiative include the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, the Department of Neighborhood and Recreational Services, the Department of Child and Family Well-Being, the Office of Neighborhood Engagement, and Newark Now.
“It was great to hear about how the city is going to make its youth and pool programs more accessible during later hours for Newark’s children. I also love the idea of the helicopter hovering over the city to keep our neighborhoods safe. I know some people say a helicopter is disruptive, but it makes me feel more secure as a resident. I love the fact that the motorcycle and mounted police units are back in action. There was a plethora of information that I heard today and I love what is happening to make the City of Newark safer this summer,” said Ray Ashe, a South Ward resident, who attended the press conference.
“It was very positive. Police Director and Mayor Booker did a great job in explaining what is in store for residents this summer. I think they have a plan that’s going to work,” said Angel Vargas, a Program Developer for International Youth Organization (IYO) of New Jersey. “If they continue this process, we’ll see less shootings and less crime in the City of Newark, and we need to continue to restore its faith in its people and continue to keep moving in the right direction.”
Under the Booker Administration, the City of Newark has formed several new partnerships and launched numerous new initiatives and policing strategies. Since 2006, the Newark Police Foundation has raised thousands of dollars in philanthropic donations to support the purchase and deployment of new crime-fighting technology, including the deployment of more than one hundred wireless video surveillance cameras, a sonic gunshot detection system, a new state-of-the-art emergency services vehicle and the operation of the City’s “Crime Stopper” and “Gun Stopper” anonymous tip lines. Since the program began, police have received more than 4,100 calls and paid out more than $84,000 in reward money resulting in more than 260 arrests, the recovery of 106 guns, and the confiscation of more than $250,000 worth of illegal narcotics. The impact of these initiatives have contributed to Newark experiencing an overall 20 percent crime rate reduction since 2006, with a 46 percent drop in shootings. In March 2010, the City saw its first homicide-free calendar month since 1966.
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