Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Riding the wave

"Crime is down!"

"Crime is down!"

So goes the mantra of the Palmer/Santiago acolytes.

And despite questions about how crimes are reported,it appears as though crime just might be down.

But not just in Trenton.

New Jersey's Uniform Crime Report (UCR) for the first six months of 2007 show a statewide decrease in violent crime. (read about it here)

State Attorney General Anne Milgram rightfully acknowledges the hard work and dedication of the law enforcement agencies across the state for their commitment to improving public safety. The UCR figures show that urban areas experienced the largest drop in reported crimes.

So it makes us wonder, is Joe Santiago really the world's greatest crime fighter who's management of the TPD is solely responsible for the improved crime statistics in Trenton?

Or has he been lucky enough to catch the wave of positive results we're experiencing statewide?

2 comments:

Christine Ott said...

It's not so much about whether or not crime is down or crime is up, it's where you call home!

But since we're talking about crime's decrease, Santiago can deny it all he wants, but it seems pretty evident he spent some time downgrading violent charges to non-violent charges, so maybe the statistics, at least for Trenton, are inaccurate.

Old Mill Hill said...

Agreed...the Police Director should live in Trenton.

Agreed, it seems as though at least some crimes have been downgraded with a suspected eye towards lowering the city's statistics.

But since it seems as thought Trenton is actually following state trends for violent crime, I don't think the almighty Police Director deserves any credit or kudos for delivering what apparently most other urban police departments are delivering.

So for all the sturm and drang and disruption and morale busting, in the end the numbers say we're no better (or worse?) off than Newark or Jersey City or where have you.

So, is the great and almight Santiago worth waivers and court cases, and gas money home to Stirling?

No.