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this is like Policing 101, and I cannot understand why every community doesn't make this a common practice.

wow and this is news? give me a break, if you live any where in JC and not an idiot you already knew this.

I have been a resident of JC since 1997 and lived in two different neighborhoods. In all that time, I have never seen a foot patrol outside of the retail areas.

I do remember some bike patrols during the Schundler administration.

" Wilson, a resident of Union Street, is a proponent of assigning more cops to foot patrol and make them talk to people, arguing that developing relationships with local residents is the best way to develop leads and thwart crime. He said a number of gangs have a presence in Jersey City, including MS13, the Latin Kings and some white supremacist groups."

Bloods, Crips, MS13 and Latin Kings are all named... I like to know more about the white supremacist groups? Who are they, where are they and what activities are they up to in Jersey City.

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It's true. Whenever I feel too smart, I like to check in and see what you have to say. Thanks.

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I'm flattered you read all my posts in such a short time as a newbie - If you secretly adore or admire me, I not interested, but enjoy the read.

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fat-ass, you're beautiful. Over twenty-two hundred posts of nonsensical pedantic ramblings!

These past few weeks, shootings in the headlines have become just about a daily occurrence. That?s bad news for everyone, from the residents who feel unsafe to the new faces in City Hall and the police department, including an acting police chief with under eight weeks on the job, the new public safety director, and a new mayor who unseated the old citing crime in the city.

There?s no time to ease into these jobs, it would seem. And the city knows it. At Jersey City?s first caucus of the new City Council last Monday, the meeting began with a presentation by the police department seeking to reassure the city that the new leadership is ready and able to handle the wave of violence. And the Council has heard the cries for help. Just a week ago last Saturday morning, Ward F Councilwoman Diane Coleman said she received almost twenty phone calls and had three constituents show up at her doorstep crying ?because they had a dead man in front of their door and couldn?t get outside.? That kind of fear helped stem a movement against former Mayor Jerramiah Healy, and with only a few days in office, Mayor Steve Fulop is looking to stem that concern.

To do so, the department must face up to the fact that the ?prior administration? left a budget hole and a department ?in disarray,? in the words of newly appointed JCPD Chief of Patrol Robert Cowan.

In fact, a number of these departmental fixes apparently could have been addressed with a review of police operation and organization ? a plan Council President Rolando Lavarro had previously called for, but was rejected by the prior administration. At the time, the Healy Administration pointed to the all-time-low in the homicide rate and said another study was unnecessary.

And yet just weeks into the new administration, police brass say they have identified misused and under-utilized police officers and resources. Considering the budget holes and the unpopular tax hike, as Ward D Councilman Michael Yun put it, the department has to do more with less due to ?the fiscal restraints.?

By way of example of better utilizing the available resources, Cowan cited the motorcycle division, which will soon reallocate more officers to work at night and fewer during the day. ?Most shootings happen between 8 pm and 4 am,? said Cowan.

All told there will now be eight motorcycle-riding officers at night and four during the day, which is changed from ten during the day and four at night. That is significantly down from the time Ward C Councilman Rich Boggiano worked most of his 35 years in the department, when motorcycles would more quickly get to crime scenes to establish a police presence. The Councilman said he could recall there being about 160 motorcycle officers, a tactic he said was far more effective. Currently the department owns 30 motorcycles, and though only about 12 officers are trained to use them. More training is coming, according to police officials.

Yet this is indicative of a bigger problem, adds Boggiano, who says, ?There?s been a decimation of the police department.? There are now 777 police officers in the city, down from just over 800 a few months ago, he said.

The city is looking to address the smaller police force both by hiring new officers ? there are 37 officers starting by the year?s end and two lateral transfers of officers from the sheriff?s office to the city ? and by better organizing the department.

During the summer months there have been 26 police officers on staff schedule who could be better utilized elsewhere, says Cowan. While 18 of these officers are typically assigned to schools and were only assigned to staff positions for the summer break, Cowan says eight had been working this ?ridiculous? assignment year-round rather than fill the department?s greater needs.

?You can?t have a police officer in a job that can be done by a civilian,? says Ward A Councilman Frank Gajewski, who previously served as police chief in the early 2000s. ?As a detective you?re making six figures, so there?s a big difference with a lower-paid civilian employee? who can do that same job, he says.

Still, Gajewski acknowledges that ?sometimes a person is put in a [staff] position for a valid reason,? but when that ?valid reason is no longer there,? sometimes police brass can ?forget about them.?

?They?re there semi-permanently, that?s why it?s good to review your roles to make sure people aren?t incorrectly staffed,? he says.

Further consideration has been given to different police tactics not utilized in Jersey City but that have proven successful elsewhere, including Paterson, New Jersey?s Cease Fire program.

Calling the program ?a good tool for solving shootings,? Cowan says the plan would change the distribution of assignments for detectives investigating a shooting.

To better stretch resources, Cowan says overtime use will also fall under hard scrutiny. Indeed, some departments were found to be using over 4,000 hours of overtime, some of which was seen as unnecessary by the new heads of the police department. In the Emergency Squad, the overtime pay amounted to nearly a quarter of a million dollars, a problem that could be addressed by structural changes that Cowan says would not diminish the unit?s effectiveness. ?The department can?t carry that cost,? added Cowan, who said this overtime pay would be used more effectively going forward, possibly going to fund Operation Cease Fire, by way of example.

Other ideas under consideration include utilizing a police dog trained to identify and find guns by scent. At present, Paterson?s is the only department on the east coast with a dog with this kind of training, a practice more common in California. The Paterson dog, by learning the mixture of oil and gunpowder found at a crime scene to track guns used in a crime, has already recovered eleven firearms since April.

Some of these changes, argued Boggiano, stemmed from mistakes of the previous administration, which opted to close the Police Academy. That was a decision made under Mayor Jerramiah Healy?s administration, and the savings was identified by Business Administrator Jack Kelly, who has continued on in his post after Fulop was elected.

?I resent that they closed our police academy and now we have to go to Paterson and get advice from them,? says Boggiano. The academy, he added, would bring in professionals from all over the country to provide similar types of training and novel approaches to policing. In fact, police department officers from all over the area, including New York City, would send their officers to the academy, which Boggiano said could be a source of revenue in addition to keeping the department?s tactics current.

The final cost analysis, however, is unclear. The Council is requesting more information about the reason for the academy?s closing and, if feasible, would consider formulating a committee to investigate bringing back a police training facility. Yet there are a number of new hurdles, including a lapse in certification and a lost lease on US Army property for the training facility, both of which would require time and money that may not be available.

Other plans include going back to crime mapping, a tactic utilized under Gajewski?s yearlong tenure as Police Chief, and moving the police department headquarters from a shared facility at 1 Journal Square Plaza to a dedicated facility. ?It?s an embarrassment,? said Boggiano, who maintained it was important to have the facility be a stand alone building.

Much of these restructuring plans are just in the initial stages, says city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill.

?The Police Chief spoke in detail at the Caucus meeting about the initial restructuring taking place within the department, which is being coordinated in close collaboration with the Mayor?s Office,? said Morrill. ?These changes, coupled with the pending appointment of a new public safety director and the hiring off additional officers, are some of the first steps being taken by the new administration to address long standing public safety issues.?



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Change is a good thing.

It is funny how with mostly young members in leadership roles they've all gone feral.

Yes, I recommend the Free Syrian Army, in the hopes they never some back alive

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This sound more like an admission of guilt and an inept police force unable to deal with the problem or mitigate it.
I for one am glad to see these 'senior' officers leave, as they have no aptitude to deal with the problem and were only 'senior' by their time on the force and not experience or knowledge.

These young folks should be given a chance to work in the defense forces.

By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal
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on July 25, 2013 at 6:12 PM, updated July 25, 2013 at 6:29 PM

Much of the wave of violence in Jersey City this summer is gang related according to a recently retired Jersey City Police Department gang expert who also said there is an ongoing skirmish between two groups of West Coast Bloods in the city.

Success in prosecuting gang leaders has also left reckless youngsters at the helm of some gangs, said Ben Wilson, 54, who retired from the police department in December after 28 years.

?Part of the problem I think is that police knocked off most of the older gang leaders so now you may have a 16-year-old kid running things and they don?t have a respect for life or fear of prison,?

Wilson also echoed comments made this week by Mayor Steve Fulop, saying recently-released criminals are likely behind some of the gun violence the city has seen in recent months.

There have been five homicides in Jersey City this month, and six since June 30. There have been 12 homicides in the city this year. The city saw only 13 homicides last year, an all-time low since the city started keeping these records more than four decades ago.

Wilson, whose expertise has been relied on by county, state and federal law enforcement, drew a distinction between gang-related violence and gang-motivated violence.

?If I?m a gang member and you look at my girlfriend the wrong way, because I have the backing of the gang, you may get shot,? Wilson said as an example of gang-related violence. ?It was not ordered by the gang and the gang might actually disapprove of it.?

Wilson said there are also a lot of beefs among gang members that result in gang-motivated violence.

?Most beefs start off as personal but if I?m a leader or a boss in a gang and I have an army behind me, there?s no reason for me to get my own hands dirty,? Wilson said.

?If you have an army on your side, that?s what becomes a gang beef. We are having some small skirmishes (in Jersey City). We have two groups of West Coast Bloods who decided to go at each other but we don?t have an all-out war.?

Wilson said there is also conflict between West Coast Bloods and local Bloods, as well as between Bloods and Crips.

Sometimes violence between gang members can be delayed for years because a person is behind bars.

?There are some people who were released from prison who were big dogs or maybe have a beef,? Wilson said. "They think 'You shot me three years ago and I see you on the street. Now I have a chance to get you back.' That was the case about a month ago on Union Street and Arlington Avenue.?

In that incident, the shooter missed the intended target, but two vehicles and a house were struck by gunfire.

Gang activity at Jersey City?s notorious Bergen and Lexington avenues triggered the first time federal prosecutors used racketeering laws to take down members of the Lex Mob, a violent Jersey City gang. Two people were shot there on July 9.

?The federal prosecutions made people at Bergen and Lex stars,? Wilson said. ?People all over the country know Bergen and Lex. Once it becomes so famous, it becomes hard to get rid of. We could put police on that corner and it would just shift.?

Wilson, a resident of Union Street, is a proponent of assigning more cops to foot patrol and make them talk to people, arguing that developing relationships with local residents is the best way to develop leads and thwart crime.

He said a number of gangs have a presence in Jersey City, including MS13, the Latin Kings and some white supremacist groups.

Some youngsters join gangs because of a troubled home life and sometimes they are born into a gang family, he said..

?Sometimes you have a kid that can?t make it to school because he is getting bullied and robbed and some guy says, ?I?ll protect you,? but that comes with a cost," he said.



Ben Wilson, a retired Jersey City police detective whose expertise on gangs has been relied on by county, state and federal law enforcement, explains the graffiti at Fulton and Rose avenues as possibly written by those of the Grape Street Watts Crips gang. He says gangs are partly responsible for the spike in violence in the city this summer. He was photographed on Thursday, July 25, 2013. Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal



Graffiti at Union and Clerk streets in Jersey City which stands for the now-defunct Arlington Union Minerva gang. Ben Wilson, a retired Jersey City police detective whose expertise on gangs has been relied on by county, state and federal law enforcement, says gangs are partly responsible for the spike in violence in the city this summer. He was photographed on Thursday, July 25, 2013. Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal