Expect More Cops on the Streets This Summer, Officials Say

Surrounded by mounted police and with a helicopter circling overhead, Newark officials Wednesday announced a multi-faceted program to combat crime heading into the summer, traditionally the peak season for illegal activity.

“We’ll be ranging from the old 1950s, ‘60s way with officers on foot in neighborhoods to a helicopter with infrared cameras doing virtual patrols,” Police Director Samuel DeMaio said during a press conference at West Side Park. “It is going to be an exciting summer for us and we know we have a big task ahead of us.”

“We have tighter partnerships with so many different agencies, and that’s enabling us to do some very creative operations which are going to get more officers on the street in the areas and at the times when crime happens the most,” said Mayor Cory Booker.

How to adequately police Newark in the summer has been of special concern in recent years, with manpower on the force down to just over 1,000 sworn officers from a peak of 1,500 just a few years ago.

But although more uniform police are expected to be joining the force in coming years -- an academy class is expected to begin in the next few months, DeMaio said -- Newark plans to redeploy existing personnel in order to get more cops on the street.

Seventy detectives and supervisors will be leaving their desks and riding in patrol cars, while civilian employees will be hired to take over jobs in the communications department and the jails, tasks that had been performed by patrol officers. Schedules have been rewritten so that there will be 40 more police working the 7 pm to 3 am shift, Booker said, adding that there is enough funding for “plenty of overtime.”  Officers on horseback will be “going into the neighborhoods,” DeMaio said.

In addition, outside agencies, like the Essex County Sheriff’s Office and the New Jersey State Police, will be backing up city police to an even greater extent than they already are starting in June. Plainclothes detectives from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office will take part in operations at the city’s open-air drug markets in the South and West wards, doubling the total number of law enforcement working this detail to 24.

All told, there will be an estimated 170 additional police on the street this summer, Booker said.

“This is going to provide a tremendous increase in police presence,” Booker said. “Residents will literally see the difference in the patrols.”

That presence will extend to the skies above Newark as well. Helicopter patrols will be stepped up in the next few months , with the craft equipped with a special infrared camera of the type used to catch the Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as he hid in a covered boat last month, DeMaio said. The camera will be used to spot large crowds and to spot suspects fleeing through yards. 

Police will also oversee special operations targeting known high-crime areas in nearly all the city’s wards. Through a program called TAZE (Tactical Analysis Zone Enforcement) police will hone in on small areas where there have traditionally been gang activity, gun crime and other problems.

Another acronymic program, SCORE -- Summer Crime Operations Enforcement -- will involve increased traffic stops, stepped up inspections at bars and check-ins with local businesses, among other initiatives.

Officials also said there will be increased enforcement of Newark’s curfew for minors under the age of 18, who must be indoors or within 100 yards of their homes by 10 pm weeknights and by  11 pm on weekends.

Violators will not automatically be placed in police custody, however, but will be left at participating houses of worship and with clergy members who officials said will counsel youth as they wait for a parent or guardian to claim them.