In his remarks yesterday, Christie said experience in Camden has shown police surges do not provide a long-term solution to crime.
On Sunday morning, August 4, 2013, Trenton police investigate the scene of a homicide on the 400 block of Chambers St.. opposite Trenton Central High School. At the same time, police were investigating a double homicide on the 1100 block of East State St.
Michael Mancuso/The Times
By Jenna Pizzi STAFF WRITER and Jenna Portnoy STAR-LEDGER
Mercer County should consider creating a regional police force to handle soaring violence in Trenton, a city whose police department is overwhelmed by current conditions, Gov. Chris Christie said yesterday
“I believe if Trenton wants to really repair its public safety system, that they should look to Camden as a model,” Christie said during a news conference in Camden.
Trenton has seen 30 homicides so far this year, two officers wounded in a gunbattle last week, and one seven-day period this month in which there were six homicides. Local officials said yesterday the idea of a countywide police force deserves study and discussion, though Trenton Mayor Tony Mack said the city needs more officers on the streets now.
Mack noted that although the Camden County force was first proposed in 2011, new officers are only just hitting the streets in the city of Camden.
“We have a very real issue with telling our residents to wait two years for basic quality of life that other communities enjoy all day every day,” Mack said in an e-mail. “Trentonians need relief now.”
County Executive Brian Hughes said he would be willing to talk about any solution that would quell the violence in Trenton.
“I would love to sit down with the governor and all the mayors of Mercer County to see if we can find talking points, because we are willing to do anything to bring down the violence in the city of Trenton,” Hughes said. He added that the county has provided funding via the prosecutor’s office and the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office to support Trenton police in its campaign against gun violence.
Christie said Camden has seen what he called positive crime statistics since the implementation of the county police. The city’s homicide rate stands at 34 so far this year, according to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office. Camden had 67 homicides last year.
“It’s a good trend, but we’re not taking any victory laps,” Christie said.
Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) said she would need to see more concrete results in Camden before she would support a county police force.
“I don’t think there is empirical research that says this will work better,” Watson Coleman said. “Christie doesn’t have any evidence that it works, and since he doesn’t give the capital city the attention it needs, he is in no place to shoot from the hip.”
Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph Bocchini said Christie’s recommendation is “worth exploring.”
“Without completely studying it and coming up with a plan I couldn’t say if it would work,” he said.
Assemblyman Reed Guscioria (D-Trenton) said he is intrigued by the idea but noted that a countywide force would be opposed by police unions and officers seeking to protect their feifdoms and pay grades.
Mack stood by his previous request for $10 million in immediate state aid to hire 75 more officers.
Instead of providing the money, state officials last week announced that State Police and other outside law enforcement agencies would assist with anti-crime measures in Trenton.
But in his remarks yesterday, Christie said experience in Camden has shown police surges do not provide a long-term solution to crime.
“What’s going on in Trenton is what we used to do here in Camden, which is when things would spike we’d send in the State Police for a period of time to try to quell some of the violence,” Christie said. “Then State Police would leave and the violence would spike back up again.”
George Dzurkoc, the president of Trenton’s Policemen’s Benevolent Association Local 11, took umbrage at Christie’s comments.
“He’s questioning our ability to police our city, and the only reason we’re having that difficulty is because he cut the funding,” Dzurkoc said.
Police and city officials have repeatedly said the cut in Capital City Aid in 2010 by Christie’s administration was the main driver of mass layoffs a year later that took one-third of the department and still have the force down 140 positions.
“The only people who are handcuffed in the city are the cops,” Dzurkoc said.
Trenton’s officers have great respect for state troopers, Dzurkoc said, but he questioned whether the agency is a cure to Trenton’s crime problems.
“We’ve had the State Police in on many occasions, but has anything really changed?” he asked.
Christie challenged Mercer County politicians to muster the “political courage” that Camden County officials needed to establish their county police force.
“Let’s stop playing the public sector union politics and let’s start playing the public safety priority in this state,” he said.
Hughes said he did discuss the implementation of a county force in 2011, when Camden’s was being considered, but former Mayor John Bencivengo said Hamilton would not join a countywide police force.
“When you had your largest municipality, out of the box, saying they wouldn’t participate, it is difficult to move forward from there,” Hughes said. He said Mercer County is a partisan county, making it more difficult for all municipalities to agree.
Christie should spearhead such an initiative, Hughes said. “If he could lend his political heft to providing some leadership, that might help,” he said.
State Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Lawrence) said all municipalities in the county should have an interest in stopping violence in Trenton.
“Trenton is not an island, our borders are very porous,” Turner said. “What happens in Trenton can very easily spill over into other areas. We’re only as strong as our weakest link.”
Hughes said with two Trenton officers still recovering from injuries following a shootout last week, this is not the time for Christie to be blaming local politicians.
“We have to all come together and figure out solutions,” Hughes said. “To personalize it and to say that we are somehow at fault because we haven’t created this police force yet is really pushing the limits of what I would call fair play.”
Contact Jenna Pizzi at jpizzi@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5717. Staff writer Alex Zdan contributed to this report.
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