With Trenton’s police force weakened by scores of layoffs last year, residents have advocated for extra manpower from the New Jersey State Police.
TRENTON — As violence mounts on Trenton’s streets, residents are demanding answers from their elected officials and police department on how they plan to get crime under control.
With Trenton’s police force weakened by scores of layoffs last year, residents have advocated for extra manpower from the New Jersey State Police. In February and March, stints by troopers in the capital city on various days over a roughly six-week period netted over 100 arrests, officials said yesterday, and troopers were sent back into the city in October, but their presence has lapsed since then.
State police said they stand ready to help the city again if needed.
“Our commitment to Trenton remains strong,” said Lt. Steve Jones, a state police spokesman.
Jones did not provide specifics on last month’s action, but said there were “several deployments” of troopers in tactical units who assisted a task force that included members of the Mercer County sheriff’s and prosecutor’s offices. The manpower was geared to address violent crime “in particular areas targeted by intelligence,” Jones said.
A spokesman for Attorney General Jeff Chiesa said yesterday that the troopers’ work continued through late October, about the time Hurricane Sandy took aim at the Jersey Shore. Since then, troopers have been an active part of recovery efforts in areas affected by the storm.
State police did not say if further deployments are in the works to help Trenton police address violent crime.
Eddie Baldassari, owner of a Chambersburg banquet hall where a Mercer County Corrections officer was shot to death Nov. 11, is among those saying they want the troopers back. He was so concerned he called Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who told him, Baldassari said, that the state was willing to work with the city on supplying extra manpower but not directly with Mayor Tony Mack, who faces a possible grand jury indictment for extortion.
“She said, ‘We don’t want to have nothing to do with Tony Mack,’” Baldassari said. “‘We’re happy to talk to the city if they approach us.’”
Mack has met with Gov. Chris Christie several times during the past two years. Though he is a registered Democrat in a non-partisan town, Mack has never criticized the Republican governor. But Baldassari said the FBI investigation that led to Mack’s arrest Sept. 10 on charges of attempted extortion may have changed Guadagno’s willingness to work with him.
To encourage Trenton’s governing body to lobby Christie for more state police help, and to raise additional awareness of ongoing violence, Baldassari is bringing a delegation of Chambersburg business owners to the council meeting tonight at 5:30 p.m. After a Friday night that saw a rush of shootings, including two more murders, he encouraged any businesspeople, residents, and public officials to come to the meeting at City Hall.
Christie’s office forwarded inquiries to the state police, who declined to comment on Baldassari’s account of Guadagno’s comments to him.
Meanwhile, Mack’s office defended the mayor’s crime fighting efforts and willingness to accept aid from outside agencies.
“We continue to work tirelessly to solve crime in our city and we appreciate the assistance of the state and county law enforcement agencies involved in this process,” mayoral aide Anthony Roberts said on behalf of Mack in an e-mail.
Trenton Police Director Ralph Rivera Jr., who spent a career with the state police and has a close friendship with state police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes, did not return a request for comment yesterday. The police director met with Baldassari for an hour yesterday morning, Baldassari said.
“I said, ‘We need more police officers,’” Baldassari said. “He said, ‘Yes.’”
Also keeping an eye on city violence was business administrator Sam Hutchinson, who said he was in contact with Rivera throughout the weekend and was to meet with the director yesterday afternoon.
“Given what appears to be an escalation in the violence, I’m very concerned,”
Hutchinson said yesterday as he went into a budget review meeting. “I think we need a tough, or get-tough policy, with some teeth, and some resources from outside agencies to do it.”
Trenton has had 22 homicides so far this year, and numerous nonfatal shootings, leading Baldassari to call the city, “Wyatt Earp town.”
Weeks after December 2011 brought six homicides to Trenton and days after a 23-year-old was shot to death during a drive-by on Route 29 yards from the Statehouse, the state police began helping out in February. They helped to track down violent offenders in neighborhoods known for high crime. Their deployment continued into mid-March, officials said.
For the first time yesterday, the state police released statistics from the effort. Operating on scattered days, the troopers conducted more than 300 motor vehicle stops, issued over 300 tickets, arrested 122 people, took 12 drunk drivers into custody and participated in scores of investigations, Jones said.
“Additionally, we have what I would call a robust presence of our investigative assets,” he said.
Undercover operations with troopers who regularly or solely work in Trenton has led to arrests, such as those in “Operation Gravedigger,” a five-month sting that ended with eight city weapons dealers into custody, authorities announced in August.
Regardless of the state police commitment, concerned citizens from Baldassari to the New Black Panthers to march organizers Jasi Edwards and Josilyn Steward are trying to marshal the community as one so violence cannot flourish.
“We need the support of everyone, together,” Baldassari said. “Because we want to hold elected officials accountable.”
Contact Alex Zdan at azdan@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5705.