Still waiting

As noted here previously and in Trenton Kat's blog, as part of the Police Director's Public Relations spin on keeping the citizenry informed a city-wide crime map was hastily posted to the city website last week. The intimation was that this was a regular part of the TPD effort to share information with residents.

(By the way, has anyone else noticed that the "Departments" link on the Trenton homepage (www.trentonnj.org) is mysteriously missing?)

Now that two ComStats (for which the weekly maps are prepared) have come and gone since that solitary posting, nothing new has appeared on the City website.

This is but the latest example of Police Director Santiago and Mayor Palmer's total disregard for maintaining open and honest communication with the people they are supposed to be serving.

You would think that they might have taken note of the downfall of neighboring Hamilton Township's Mayor Gilmore. It's an accepted fact that the two term incumbent lost his reelection bid largely due to his attempts to cover up things including, but not limited to the latest auditor's report on the municipal budget.

Apparently, the arrogance of Santiago and Palmer towards the populous of Trenton can not be stunted. Residents of the Capital City are doomed to suffer under the whims and misdirection of these petty tyrants until enough of us stand up and say, "NO MORE!"

Judging from the voter turnout on election day, that time may not yet be here. And even for those who do vote...be it in general or municipal elections, if we continue to reelect the same representatives who continue to fail us, we will continue to get the representation we deserve.

We can do better. The time to start is now.

Uh, Mr. Police Director, Sir. Did you forget something?

So last week's drama over accusations that the Trenton Police Department leadership wasn't reporting crimes accurately or in a timely fashion resulted in the hyping of the fact that the "weekly crime map for Trenton is on the Police Department's Public Safety Information page."

And lo and behold, last week you could find the most recent map posted there.

Now since that startling announcement, there has been another weekly ComStat meeting.

So there should be another, newer, map available for posting on the City website, right?

Oops! Guess again!

So the question is, was this just another "knee jerk reaction" to criticism by the Trenton Police Director to show how open and forthcoming he is about crime?

Or does he really think the community's memory is so short that we have all forgotten about this issue already?

Oh really! And since when?

Trentonian writer Jack Knarr ignited a controversy with Tuesday's article on how Trenton Police Department brass report crimes.

In response, media representatives and community members were invited to a press conference on Wednesday to hear the department's rebuttal. It should be noted that Director Santiago was not present at the press conference, but left Captain Scarangelli and others to defend the department from the slings and arrows of the media and any malcontents from the community at large who might have been in attendance.

An official response was posted on the City's website. Of particular note was the following section:

SECRET SOURCE
The title of Mr. Knarr’s editorial, “TRUE CRIME: THE REAL TRENTON STATISTICS” suggests that there exists an ongoing conspiracy among the Command Staff and within the Trenton Police Department to under report crime in order to show our organization in a positive light. Mr. Knarr’s assertion that a “secret police source” had to “smuggle” out several crime maps from the COMSTAT meeting to show a true compilation of crime in the City of Trenton could not be further from the truth. Crime maps are routinely exhibited to members of the public at community meetings where discussion between the public and police officials concerning crime events often occurs. In addition,crime maps are posted in the roll call rooms throughout the Trenton Police Department for utilization by police personnel to analyze crimes occurring in their areas of responsibility. I do not understand why Mr. Knarr’s “secret police source” would have to smuggle information from the COMSTAT Meetings when it is readily available to him/her each day of the week.

We were particularly interested by the assertion that "Crime maps are routinely exhibited to members of the public at community meetings..."

While this has occurred intermittently over the past several years, it has hardly become routine. In fact, this important flow of information and data reporting to the community has been turned on and off, with no explanation given, over the past several years. There have been several requests for maps to be provided in electronic format for email distribution and/or posting on various websites that have gone unanswered.

Further down in the document, a note is made of the fact that the "weekly crime map for Trenton is on the Police Department's Public Safety Information page."

Lo and behold, a quick check (once we navigated the not so intuitive city website), located the map in question...and the most recent one at that.

Not to sound unduly suspicious, paranoid or cynical, but just how long have these maps been posted there?

Certainly not over the last weekend when the whole website was down due some domain name registration snafu.

And for a city that can find ways to trumpet the most mundane and useless information (ticket sales for the jazz festival via the reverse 911 system comes immediately to mind), why wasn't the public told about the availability of these maps on line? Wouldn't it be simple for the officers attending all these community meetings to state "and the weekly maps are now being posted on the city website" or send a press release to the local media or put a banner on the front page of the website?

Or was this a very sneaky, clandestine response to not only Mr. Knarr's article but the civilian generated and well distributed crime map created by fellow blogger TrentonKat for the past couple of months? And wasn't it just a year ago that there was the big flap between the media and the Police Director about the timely release of any crime reports that ended up in a meeting with the County Prosecutor?

Let's face it folks, by and large the members of the Trenton Police Department are doing a tough job under any circumstances. And the community appreciates that.

What is difficult to accept is the detachment of the non-resident Police Director; his refusal to accept that he is accountable not only to the Mayor but to the citizens of Trenton; and his failure to let the better instincts of the capable members of his command staff take the lead in managing the department.

Let's get back to open and honest dealings about the crime situation in Trenton. Working together,openly and honestly is the only way to go.

Media Alert

OK, so Director Santiago has called a press conference for 2pm today in response to yesterday's article in the Trentonian in which Jack Knarr argues that crime reporting is being tweaked in favor of the "crime is down" mantra.

Well, 2pm is the perfect time for the daily news cycle, and it makes it tough for John and Joan Q. Public to attend...even though there is a big push to get "community leaders" to be at the event.

So, in case you have to miss this event, here's are the talking points that most likely spew forth from the august leaders of the the TPD and possibly even the sometimes "missing Mayor" himself:

Crime is down!

Media is bad. They never tell you the "good stuff" that happens here.

Crime is down!

Yes, some crimes that are reported one way are, upon further investigation, classified another way. There is nothing incorrect, illegal or wrong about this.

Sometimes a "break in" is not a burglary, but just a trespass. Doesn't get counted the same way.

Crime is down!

People have axes to grind. They can't admit that {the administration of the police department} is making a difference and crime is down.

Well, from where we sit. Crime is not down.

The numbers may have been reduced, in part through reclassification of the "deviant acts" as one blogger calls them. And truth be told, in some cases such reclassification may be warranted, but not all. Still, anyone paying attention to their neighborhoods, let alone the city as a whole can tell you that "incidents" are happening all over.

As for the big bad media only reporting the negative stuff: well, when the authorities aren't forthright and forthcoming with the facts and information, that is news. Of course, we would like to see the local media apply the same rules to other local municipalities.

Have you heard about the half dozen cars stolen from the Hyatt Parking Lot on Route 1 a couple of Saturday's ago? No? Where are the papers on that one?

But back to Trenton, if what the Director has said in the past and will say again this afternoon is true and crime really is down, why aren't the weekly crime maps made public for everyone to see? Then we can compare our knowledge with what is being "reported" and see if things actually match up or not.

Yes, Director, until you are totally open and honest about the weekly crime reporting and share the information willingly with the public and the media, warts and all, people will be suspicious.