The ordinance establishing the commission made up of retired and active first responders says it will hold monthly meetings, but it has not met since October 2010.
File photo: A Hamilton police officer at a crime scene earlier this year. On Saturday night, two Trenton residents were shot while driving away from Bromley Park, the third shooting in less than two weeks in the neighborhood along the border with the city.
The ordinance establishing the commission made up of retired and active first responders says it will hold monthly meetings, but it has not met since October 2010.
Independent mayoral candidate Antonio Gambino said that, with the Bromley shootings and a series of burglaries in the Golden Crest neighborhood of Hamilton Square, now is the time for the commission to get back on its feet. He also criticized Mayor Kelly Yaede, saying she had not addressed the issue.
“We’re getting a crime wave throughout Hamilton,” Gambino said. “She’s in flat-out denial about the robberies, burglaries, home invasions, assaults, drive-by shootings and car thefts. She’s the public safety director and she’s not being truthful with the residents of Hamilton Township. I want to make sure the residents can go to the store with out being assaulted, shot or killed.”
Yaede said the commission would meet only “if there’s business,” just as the planning board cancels meetings when nothing is on its agenda.
“There are several other boards or committees that, because of conflicts, don’t meet on a monthly basis. They are volunteer committees by members of the public that volunteer their time and their services,” she said yesterday. “However, it’s political season, hence my opponents are calling for the public safety commission to meet. ...What they’re doing is using the events of last week to fuel their position.”
Democratic council candidate Daniel Keelan said the commission should act like a “brain trust,” developing ideas and making recommendations to the mayor and township council. Frequent commission activity would place the onus on elected officials to act on the recommendations, he said.
“If the council and administration aren’t going to do anything, but you have an active advisory commission meeting monthly and doing their semiannual reports, then they would be in a position where they would have to recognize the analysis and recommendations of this commission and implement them or justify not implementing them,” Keelan said.
Councilman Vinnie Capodanno, who has acted as Gambino’s campaign manager, said that a rekindled commission would get politics out of public safety discussions.
“People that have professional experience in public safety are going to help her and advise her to do what she needs to do,” Capodanno said. “If they advise her for more manpower, it wouldn’t be coming from (candidates). It’s coming from professionals.”
At the commission’s last meeting in October 2010, members discussed potential police shift changes and having the fire department handle hazardous material situations.
Contact Mike Davis at (609) 989-5708 or mdavis@njtimes.com.
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