JC neighborhood break-down on crime !

http://thepeacockpress.wordpress.com/ ... lice-stay-out-of-the-red/

Seven blocks in Jersey City that police say will be targeted because there is more reported crime there than other areas of the city. The map is part of a crime prevention overview by the city.

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Jersey City shooting, murder rate low compared to other urban NJ areas


By Michaelangelo Conte | The Jersey Journal
on July 25, 2014

Despite a recent uptick in violent incidents, Jersey City's shooting and murder rate is considerably lower than in most of New Jersey's seven other large urban areas based on population, officials said.

"While we are happy the trend in shootings shows they are trending down, that is not good enough," said Jersey City Public Safety Director James Shea. "One shooting is one too many and we won't be satisfied until they are eliminated. That may not be possible, but that is our goal."

From Jan. 1 to July 14 there were 16.9 shooting incidents in Jersey City per 100,000 residents, and 3.9 murders per 100,000 residents, according to statistics made available by Jersey City Public Safety Director James Shea on Wednesday.

Per 100,000 residents, there were 111.3 shootings in Trenton during that period, 80.3 in Camden, 45.4 in Newark, 42.7 in Paterson, 24 in Irvington, 18.7 in East Orange and 15 in Elizabeth, according to the statistics.

Per 100,000 residents there were 20.1 murders in Trenton during that period, 16.8 in Camden, 11.2 in Newark, 9.2 in Irvington, 4.1 in Paterson, 2.4 in Elizabeth and none in East Orange, according to the statistics.

There have been 15 murders in Jersey City so far this year.

From Jan. 1 to July 14 there were 33 non-fatal shooting incidents in Jersey City and 10 shooting murders, according to the statistics.

There were 12 murders in Jersey City in 2012 and 20 in 2013, an increase of 66.7 percent, according to the New Jersey State Police Unified Crime Report.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index ... nd_murder_rate_in_je.html

Jersey City police ramping up efforts in 7 areas driving gun violence



Seven blocks in Jersey City that police say will be targeted because there is more reported crime there than other areas of the city. The map is part of a crime prevention overview by the city.

By Michaelangelo Conte | The Jersey Journal
July 24, 2014

The Jersey City Police Department is beefing up its presence in seven areas where drug trafficking and street disputes have triggered gun violence, officials said.

?Starting Monday, we will have a more visible presence at those locations,? city Public Safety Director James Shea said during an editorial board meeting at The Jersey Journal yesterday afternoon.

?We are talking about a persistent police presence. These areas are persistent in their crime problems.?

Shea said the effort to stem the violence will include surveillance at the locations. The department will also work more closely with the Hudson County Prosecutor?s Office in investigating both fatal and nonfatal shootings, Shea said.

The seven zones are the areas of Bergen and Lexington avenues, Ocean and Bostwick avenues, Stevens Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive, Ocean and Lembeck avenues, Rutgers and Chapel avenues, Grant Street and MLK Drive, and Salem Lafayette Court, which is located in the Salem Lafayette housing complex, near MLK Drive and Union Street.

So far this year, Jersey City has had 43 shootings and 15 homicides, police said.

?It?s scary around here,? said a woman who works at Grant and MLK and lives nearby. ?You don?t know if you are going to walk out of your home and get hit with a bullet. If you have kids, you can?t let them go out alone.?

The woman, who asked not to be identified, said that everyone is in danger because the people struck in shootings are often not the intended victims.

Referring to Jersey City Police Detective Melvin Santiago, who was fatally shot on July 13, the woman said: ?More police will make me feel a lot better, but these days, police aren?t even safe, so how am I supposed to feel safe??

Santiago was the third murder victim this month. On July 3, 19-year-old Christopher Lemoine was gunned down on Lembeck Avenue before 26-year-old Michael Siegel was fatally shot on Jewett Avenue seven days later.

A resident near the corner of Ocean and Bostwick avenues said Ocean Avenue is dangerous from Grant Avenue to Wegman Parkway.

?They hang out, there?s shooting and the drug-dealing is very bad,? said the Ocean Avenue woman.

The Ocean Avenue woman asked not to be identified, as did her friend who said they ?would welcome more patrols, but they need to be more personable. It won?t work if you have cops that are distant, that are just an authoritarian presence.

"When I grew up former Mayor Glenn Cunningham was a police officer and he knew everyone and everyone knew him.?

Pedro Baneros of Baneros Auto Body, at Ocean and Bostwick, said he lives in the Heights and is only at the business during work hours.

?I hear the problems start at night,? Baneros said while taking a break from prepping a tow truck for painting. ?The people say after, people are killing one another and drug dealing.?

Baneros said more police officers would improve the situation, but he wished s all the police officers would live in the city because they would care more and do a better job.

During a 30-minute period yesterday afternoon, five police patrols cruised down Ocean Avenue in the area of Bostwick.

?It?s not the people in the neighborhood that are bad, it?s the people who come here and hang out who are the problem," said a 50-year-old resident of the Salem Lafayette housing complex. "There is a lot of drug-dealing going on. I don?t know about gangs ... More police would be nice.?

Betty Dickey, 70, lives near Salem Lafayette Court and is wheelchair-bound.

?It?s bad, the shooting is bad," she said. "It would make me happy to see more police here.?

Shea added that crime will inevitably be displaced from the target areas to other areas but said "there is never a 100 percent displacement" and that crime is reduced even though there is some displacement.

Shea said the department is also ?blanketing? the neighborhoods with fliers telling residents how they can share information with police. He said the department currently meets with community groups, but it will now also focus on smaller sections of problem areas in order to generate more community involvement, adding that ?we don?t think we are deep enough.

?You can?t look at a city as a city, you have to look at each little area independently,? Shea said. ?In the rest of the city, we think we are getting what we want. In these areas, I don?t think we are getting what we want.?

The director said implementation of the new plan was delayed a week by ?the cowardly ambush of officer Santiago, which actually slowed us down.?

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... driving_gun_violence.html