Jersey City will host a third town hall meeting to address public-safety issues, with an Ocean Avenue church hosting the event tomorrow night. Mayor Jerramiah Healy and Police Chief Tom Comey will address concerns about crime, and the city?s new Community Response Team will be on hand to answer questions. The team comprises 17 newly appointed police detectives. ?We know that the last meeting held at City Hall was a positive interaction with the community and are hoping that the public takes advantage of this meeting so that we can work as partners to continue to improve the quality of life in our communities,? Healy said in a statement. Healy and Comey held the first meeting at City Hall on March 1, and a second one on Old Bergen Road last week. The meeting is scheduled to begin tomorrow at 6 p.m. at the Ocean Avenue Baptist Church, 735 Ocean Ave.
A man holding a sign calling for Business Administrator Jack Kelly to be fired walked back and forth across the council chambers. Another man held a sign claiming Mayor Jerramiah Healy ?Just Don?t Care.? But of the posters at the meeting ? there was another that said Jersey City residents live in fear ? what stood out most was the image of a pastor who had been brutally assaulted outside his home. In the photo one of his eyes is forced close from bruising, while his cheek, which was broken, bulges out.
The rally, which was planned last week, coalesced out of a growing discussion of the city?s crime ? lately the province of on-line discussions such as Facebook?s Political Insider and e-mail threads ? and brought over 100 concerned residents out in sharp rebuke of Mayor Jerramiah Healy?s assertion that crime statistics ? numbers that have been trending downward over the past few years on paper ? ?speak for themselves.? But for most of the thirty or so speakers who took a turn at the microphone during the Council meeting?s public hearing, almost each resident shared a different story about crime in the city ? their own or a neighbor?s, something that happened to a relative or a friend ? and all of them close to home.
The statistics, said each of the speakers, did not fit with real world experience, and some of these residents, such as William Braker, a former Hudson County Freeholder and retired Jersey City police lieutenant, are in a better position than most to judge.
Calling the Greenville Bergen-Lafayette neighborhood ?under siege,? Braker said he was concerned about almost daily ?random acts of violence prevalent? in the neighborhood. The answer, he argued, boils down to visibility and enforcement. In fact, Jersey City?s police department is proportionally larger than many major cities, he explained. The norm, he says, is to have a 1:400 ratio of police officers to resident. Jersey City, with 802 officers, is closer to 1:300. Rather, it?s how these police officers are deployed.
?My professional expertise tells me we need [more] foot patrols,? he said.
He then slammed the city for not making public safety its highest priority by pointing to the budget, which he called ? basically a statement of priorities. I guarantee you that if I saw the municipal budget I could find various items far less important than public safety.?
It?s why John Lynch, a resident who was pivotal in garnering attention for the rally and a longtime critic of Healy, asked the administration, which had previously downplayed concerns, ?Why else would so many people be here tonight if we don?t have crime issue? The fact of the matter is we don?t feel safe.?
The conversation also steered towards how best to replace the police officers the city expects to lose through retirement both this year and next. According to Jerry DeCicco, the president of the Police Officer Benevolent Association, the city might lose as many as 100 officers this year, a number the city contends as speculative.
Regardless of the number, training police typically has a 9-month turnaround between background checks and police academy, a problem exacerbated by the Healy Administration?s decision to eliminate the Jersey City police academy, added DeCicco. City officials, however, say they will be able to get qualified officers via the Rice Bill, a law that allows rookie police officers who were laid off for economic reasons to skip re-taking the civil service exam or repeat the police academy.
Council President Peter Brennan, taking heat for the manner in which he fought to retain his council presidency, said he would plan a meeting with the police chief to find out what the ?802 officers out there? are doing. ?Where is this police presence?? he asked.
Since I took office in 2004, crime has dropped significantly. We made it our top priority to hire police officers and utilize all of the resources available to make our city safer. Those efforts are borne out in our crime stats, which are certified by the State Police and the FBI and which show crime has dropped 33 percent in Jersey City from 2004 to 2011.
But Healy stands by his commitment to public safety and maintains that the problem isn?t one of wrong priorities.
?Last year, when almost every other large city in the state and the nation was forced to lay off police officers ? and as a result saw crime spike ? we went to great lengths to negotiate with our police unions to realize concessions without the loss of a single police officer,? said Healy. ?However, we have lost a significant number of police officers due to retirements. We know that public safety will always be issue number one for our residents, as it is for us. That is why I have instructed Chief Comey to immediately look at ways to re-deploy additional uniform officers in marked cars to the areas in greatest need. We will also continue to seek funding from our state and federal government to hire additional police officers. However, our residents should know that Jersey City is one of the safest large cities in New Jersey and continues to become safer every single day.?
One of the catalysts for the meeting can be traced back to a photo of a car resting on cinder blocks in a driveway absent all of its wheels that circulated among numerous citizen-activists and called into question the perception of crime versus its reality, and just how accurately those statistics can ?speak for themselves.?
GrovePath wrote: Jersey City activists accuse city council of not facing crime problem It was standing-room-only at the Jersey City City Council meeting last night, with the chambers filled with residents who say the city is plagued by crime and that city officials won?t admit it. William Braker, a former Hudson County freeholder who addressed the council last night, cited a number of recent crimes, including last week?s shooting outside the Urban League of Hudson County, before concluding that some city neighborhoods are ?under siege.? ?Random acts of violence are prevalent,? Braker said. ?We need foot patrols, and we need it now.? Braker, who was convicted in 2003 for his role in a bribery scheme, was greeted with applause from some of the more than 100 residents in the chambers.
Jersey City activists accuse city council of not facing crime problem
February 09, 2012, 3:03 AM By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
It was standing-room-only at the Jersey City City Council meeting last night, with the chambers filled with residents who say the city is plagued by crime and that city officials won?t admit it.
Residents stood holding signs reading, ?Jersey City business robbed at gunpoint!? and ?Jersey City residents live in fear.?
The rally was organized by a number of community activists who are frequently critical of Mayor Jerramiah Healy?s administration.
William Braker, a former Hudson County freeholder who addressed the council last night, cited a number of recent crimes, including last week?s shooting outside the Urban League of Hudson County, before concluding that some city neighborhoods are ?under siege.?
?Random acts of violence are prevalent,? Braker said. ?We need foot patrols, and we need it now.?
Braker, who was convicted in 2003 for his role in a bribery scheme, was greeted with applause from some of the more than 100 residents in the chambers.
City officials have argued that crime is actually falling in Jersey City, even though FBI statistics released last year showed a slight increase in violent crime from 1,791 in 2009 to 1,829 in 2010.
Police Chief Tom Comey, meanwhile, last year touted a decrease in assaults, both aggravated and simple, from 2,882 in 2009 to 2,739 in 2010.
Resident Chester Rothman said he can explain why the city thinks crime is falling when the FBI and residents say it is rising. Crime can be increasing in one neighborhood while falling in another, or the numbers are ?fudged,? Rothman said.
?Whose team are you on?? he asked the council. ?Are you on our side, or are you on the side of Mr. Comey, who never saw a problem he couldn?t turn his back on??
Comey was not in attendance, but Deputy Chief Hugh Donaghue was stationed in a room at City Hall to answer residents? questions.
Donaghue, who said Comey was with a gravely ill relative, said ?No one?s in denial.? When the police know there is a problem, they do all they can to correct it, he said.
?I?m pissed off,? Donaghue told a resident who spoke to him about his son getting robbed. ?I?m pissed off that kids get robbed.?
Miriam Mendez, 38, of Roosevelt Avenue, said she attended the rally because there have been numerous robberies in her neighborhood, and her husband has seen one stabbing.
Mendez said she doesn?t feel safe, and she echoed others? sentiments that city officials are ignoring the problem. ?I think they?re delusional,? she said. ?I think they?re living in a self-exiled utopia.?
Enitsirk67 wrote: Regarding the article, I have also called the police to tattle on people having sex in cars as well as smoking pot in cars outside my apartment, and the cops generally take an hour to respond.
Ok so now you have to go to your Captain's Meeting and report this lack of timing to the police captain this way you gat a response as to why an hour is nessessary. By the way what occured when the hour passed and the cops showed ? And hopefully you will post the captain's feedback from the next meeting or phone call. And while you are at it call your 4 council persons as well.
Regarding the article, I have also called the police to tattle on people having sex in cars as well as smoking pot in cars outside my apartment, and the cops generally take an hour to respond.
Someone's math is worse than mine. Comey says there were 22 homicides in 2010 & 13 homicides in 2011. But when you crunch the numbers from the compstat page on the police website it shows 21 homicides in 2010 & 16 homicides in 2011.
Dear Jersey City Residents, Our Chief of Police in the enclosed article has stated that Jersey City does not have a crime problem. I urge all JC residents to attend the Crime Rally At the Council Meeting On Wednesday, Feb. 8th At 6pm..Feel free to bring posters. If you want to speak sign up to get on the speakers list. Call the city clerk?s office at (201) 547-5150 by 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7 to be added to the speakers? list.
Residents who believe the city has a crime problem hope to flood this week?s council meeting with hundreds of protesters in an effort to pressure city officials to allocate more resources to the Police Department and programs for youth who are too often the victims and perpetrators of violence.
Over the last few years, Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy and Jersey City Police Chief Tom Comey have often pointed to crime stats to prove that violent crimes are at a historic low and the city is safer now than it has ever been. Despite the statistics, many residents say they feel unsafe on the streets and in their own homes and point to anecdotal evidence to suggest that many crimes go unreported. The dispute over numbers aside, residents are angry that Healy and members of the City Council haven?t done more to address what they see as a crime problem.
?Jersey City has a crime problem,? said resident Dina Schwartz, the victim of a purse snatching in 2009. ?No one wants to call it that. They don?t admit there?s a problem, which is why I think it isn?t being handled. You have to admit you have a problem before you can do something about it.?
More with less
Chief Comey said the city does not have a crime problem. He said some residents perceive there?s a problem, when in fact they are influenced by high-profile crimes that are covered in the local media.
?We?ve been completely transparent with people and we try to educate them about what the numbers are,? said Comey. ?Every single month, as soon as the state police certify our Uniform Crime Report numbers, we put them on our web site. But when I go to a block association meeting, I?ll ask, ?How many homicides were there last year?? Nobody knows the answer. They?ll come up with an off-the wall-number, and when we educate them on the accurate numbers they?re amazed.?
_____________ ?When you don?t have a visible police force, people do not feel safe.? ? Jerry DeCicco ____________
Last year, there were 13 homicides, down from 22 the year before.
Comey admits the department has had to do more with less, a fact that residents and some police officers believe has allowed crime in the city to spike.
There are currently 801 police officers in the JCPD. Over the last two years 98 officers have been cut, according to Jerry DeCicco, president of the Police Officers Benevolent Association.
?Having 98 fewer officers on the street has had a direct relationship to the crime,? DeCicco insists. ?There is no visible police force out on the street anymore. You have to cut back somewhere. There have been less bicycle patrols on the streets. There are fewer scooter patrols. There are fewer walking posts. We?ve had to reduce our community presence.?
The department, he added, could lose roughly 100 officers by November due to retirement. Another 85 officers will be eligible for retirement by July 2013.
?When you don?t have a visible police force, people do not feel safe,? DeCicco said, adding that Chief Comey is a ?very good coach, a good leader. But the administration has given us zero resources.?
30-year low v. ?underreporting?
Mayor Healy has often taken issue with such assessments.
While the overall size of the department has decreased over the last two years, another 82 officers who were slated to be laid off in 2011 were retained, thanks to a deal between the city and the POBA.
The city has also upgraded its police and fire dispatch operations, investing more than $16 million on a new, centralized dispatch headquarters.
In 2005 and again last summer, the city sponsored two gun buyback programs, dubbed Operation Lifesaver and Operation Lifesaver II, that collectively took about 1,000 firearms off the streets.
Statistically, crime in Jersey City is on a downward trend and both violent and non-violent crimes are at a 30-year low.
But one police officer who did not want to be identified admitted that not every crime is reported and claimed that many nonviolent offenses aren?t tracked in the city?s official crime statistics. Stories from residents bear this out.
Last November, Journal Square resident Akisia Grigsby caught a man and woman having sex in her backyard.
?I called the police after I heard the woman scream. They showed up about an hour later,? said Grigsby, whose 13-year-old son was home at the time and saw part of the incident. ?Of course, by then, the woman was gone and the man [who lives nearby] had gone back in his house. I know where he lives and told the police officers I?d point out his house. But they were nonchalant and said, ?Well, we don?t think you really want us to question your neighbor. That?ll just cause problems between you and your neighbor.? They told me they can?t handle all the calls that they get. That alarmed me. That made it clear they don?t have enough police. They didn?t even take a report.?
Her mother, who owns a salon and recently installed a buzzer to admit customers, has called the police about drug dealing near her business, to no avail.
?Acknowledge the problem?
Residents who are angry about crime hope their Wednesday rally will pressure the City Council and Healy administration to prioritize crime-fighting initiatives in the municipal budget. The timing is ripe for such a demand. The administration is currently drafting its 2012 municipal budget, a spending plan that could be introduced next month.
Over the years, the city has had to cut the municipal budget through furloughs and attrition, to address a structural deficit. The city?s 2011 budget was $490 million.
?I don?t want to micromanage the Jersey City Police Department. I don?t think that?s our job,? said resident Esther Wintner, whose son was robbed outside his home last week. ?I want our leaders to acknowledge that there is a problem, acknowledge that people are afraid, and then take action to get the police the resources they need to effectively fight crime in this city.?
Rally organizers also plan to ask the city?s leaders to allocate more resources for youth programs to keep idle teens off the streets.
?Right now, there?s nothing here that gives kids a sense of self,? said resident and parent Delores Black. ?Kids need outlets where they can go and learn to think creatively, so they?re thinking about something beyond walking around the block or taking the bus to Journal Square.?
Some residents who plan to attend Wednesday?s rally might also advocate for auxiliary police personnel, the launch of a Volunteers in Policing program, and community policing pilots, among other suggestions, organizers said last week.
The Feb. 8 City Council meeting will take place at 6 p.m. at City Hall, located at 280 Grove St. Members of the public who wish to speak during the public comments portion of the meeting must call the city clerk?s office at (201) 547-5150 by 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7 to be added to the speakers? list.
What a joke - Healy and Comey are the only reason we have a crime problem. JC needs and deserves a professional police chief and social focused mayor - We need to dump these 2 pretenders.
Posted on: 2012/2/2 22:31
My humor is for the silent blue collar majority - If my posts offend, slander or you deem inappropriate and seek deletion, contact the webmaster for jurisdiction.
The same group of activist-residents who called attention to perceptions of high crime in Jersey City last week is holding a rally at the next City Council meeting on Wednesday, February 8th to protest what the group sees as insufficient action on the part of the city. The renewed concern comes after the wheels were stolen off of a neighbor?s car that had been parked in a driveway. The organizers of the rally have long criticized Mayor Jerramiah Healy, and have gone so far as to start a recall campaign.
Healy took issue with the reporting of that piece (written by this very same journalist) and wrote a letter in response outlining the city?s actions since he?s taken office.
Meanwhile: elsewhere in the city, other concerned residents have taken to the streets to form neighborhood block watch groups. The action, which will have a representative from the Jersey City Police Department on hand, will help citizens partner with the police to let would-be criminals know people are watching.
My humor is for the silent blue collar majority - If my posts offend, slander or you deem inappropriate and seek deletion, contact the webmaster for jurisdiction.
A rally for a more competent police chief and mayor that can better manage our crime issue, is what we are really hopping for !
Posted on: 2012/2/2 8:31
My humor is for the silent blue collar majority - If my posts offend, slander or you deem inappropriate and seek deletion, contact the webmaster for jurisdiction.
Shots fired in Jersey City; residents take cover at Urban League offices
As shots rang out on Martin Luther King Drive in Jersey City this afternoon, several residents scurried inside the offices of the Urban League of Hudson County for cover.
"It is Martin Luther King Drive and there are always shootings. Today, it was near our office," Elnora Watson, chief executive officer of the nonprofit, said shortly after shots were fired on the Drive near Bostwick Avenue.
"It is not an unusual occurrence, that's the sad thing," she added. "It is something that needs to be addressed. How do we keep the commercial strip relatively policed?"
According to police and local residents, multiple shots were fired in the area around 4:30 p.m. Police said no one was hurt and at least one car was struck by a bullet. Officers found several shell casings at the scene, but no witnesses to the shooting, Police Department spokesman Stan H. Eason said.
Watson said she wasn't certain how close the shooting was to the organization's building located on Martin Luther King Drive between Wilkinson and Bostwick avenues. But "there were quite a number of people who saw or heard shots and rushed into the office for safety," she said.
Jesus Curiel, an employee at Jaritza 1 Supermarket, 237 Martin Luther King Drive, said he heard six to seven shots ring out. "I didn't see anybody get hurt," he said.
This afternoon, six uniform and two plainclothes officers could be seen interviewing residents at the Urban League building.
The shooting did not cause any disruption to the agency's busy schedule of classes and other programs, Watson said.
ExUWSguy - Lucky you..I live over by Pershing Field..there have been quite a few incidents...Deli on Beacon and Central held up at gun point as was the Getty Station on Central and State Hwy...both separate incidents.
A woman was mugged on Prospect and Central at knife-point last week. Two houses over the summer broken into on Jefferson Ave.
Here are some other incidents too:
Robbers grab Jersey City teen by neck, take $400 in items
Jersey City man tries to grab gun from robber before chasing him in car
Robbers ask St. Peter's College student for time, then snatch cell phone
Jersey City man was robbed at gunpoint by two men Monday night
Four assault, shoot at Jersey City man to steal his boots
What trends, or recent events, are driving this? I've lived in Jersey City for 4 years (the Heights, off Franklin Street between Palisade and Central Avenues) and have always felt entirely safe. It probably helps I am not a late night person, but my area of the Heights seems pretty peaceful most of the time. Still, I'm always interested in getting involved, so to focus would appreciate hearing other people's opinions.
"DO YOU FEEL SAFE" In Your Home? On The Streets? In Jersey City? "Take Action Get Involved! STOP CRIME........ COME MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD!
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2012 CITY HALL CHAMBERS COUNCIL MEETING 280 Grove Street, 2nd Floor 6PM (arrive @5:30PM)
NOTE: to get on the speakers list: Contact/City Clerk's Office (201)547-5150 BY: 4PM Feb.7thFor additional info contact: JCAGAINSTCRIME@YAHOOGROUPS.COM
Good luck - but when many of our politicians, public servants and officials (those in public office) have been found guilty of a crime but still in power, the rally will fall on deaf ears !
Maybe a rally to seek an audit of all public officials - an audit on their criminal record might discover the root-case why nothing is ever done !
Posted on: 2012/1/30 23:27
My humor is for the silent blue collar majority - If my posts offend, slander or you deem inappropriate and seek deletion, contact the webmaster for jurisdiction.
