For Immediate Release

Mayor Tony Mack Saves Public Safety

TRENTON—Mayor Tony Mack hosted a press conference today regarding the recent shooting attempt on two Trenton Police Officers on patrol in a city vehicle. Mayor Mack announced key updates to his comprehensive plan to fight crime in order to keep the public up-to-date with new information. Mayor Mack made the following statement:

Public safety is essential to the City of Trenton we can not permit crime or symptoms of crime, poverty and oppression to continue to burden the peace of mind of our residents, business owners, and stakeholders. 

Crime is deplorable, and I am serving crime an eviction notice-you are not welcome in

Trenton anymore, and I am asking all residents to join with me in sending crime and

criminals a farewell exit. 

In order to restore the vitality of the city through recreational and cultural programs and

services we are announcing a new initiative from the Mayor’s Office. The Mayor’s

Learning Centers.  

We are making strides that are tough and challenging but necessary to keep the public’s

best interest our focus. It is crucial to keep our libraries open.  

That shows that our children need any and all resources our City can offer as it relates to

education. I know that our police officers would much rather walk a child home after a

library visit, then walk them into a precinct.  

Therefore, my administration plans to retrofit the Mayor’s Learning Centers with plate steel sheathing, polycarbonate window coverings and install gun turrets that will be manned by volunteers.   

This work will be accomplished with the use of CDBG funds and the application of the surplus from the Trenton Water Works. This revenue stream will enhance our city by providing jobs and engaging the community to participate in the protection of our most precious resource, our children.  

Under the direction of my volunteer coordinator of volunteers this comprehensive action will be undertaken under the guidance and directorship of my special Committee Of Non-paid Supporters, or CONS.

Because of the emergent emergency of this matter Mayor Mack will, by executive order and with the blessing of less than half of the city council, waive the normal bidding and contracting procedures required under state statute.

All work will be performed by individuals who have sufficiently demonstrated their belief in the Mayor's initiatives, have contributed to his campaign fund and/or have a prior criminal record thereby qualifying them for re-entry program funding.  

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NOTE: This is not a real media advisory from Trenton's City Hall. If it had been, you would have been directed where to turn and when to scream in outrage. On second thought....

Imagine

The Jersey Journal, newspaper of record for Jersey City, is running a series of articles about crime in the city. (available on line at NJ.com)

The series is based upon the compilation and charting, via computers, of violent crime statistics for the 19 months from January 2006 through July of this year as obtained by the Newark Star Ledger and Jersey Journal staff through Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests.

So far, there have been no great revelations in the information presented...especially to those who have been paying attention to crime discussions and statistics for awhile now.

There are very strong similarities between the description of problems (youth congregating on street corners; limited police resources; broken families; poor education systems; etc.)in Jersey City and what we hear, read and say about Trenton.

One thing that has struck this reader, so far there has been little evidence of the hyperbole so present in Trenton's "crime fighting" strategies.

For instance, in this morning's article, there is a very matter-of-fact statement by Jersey City Police Chief Tom Comey regarding how his department maintains a list of the most serious repeat and violent juvenile offenders in order to help the Prosecutor's office deal with their cases.

There was no hype about this being a ground-breaking approach. We don't know from the article, but one gets the sense there was no highly-paid consultant credited with this common sense approach to law enforcement data analysis. It was held up as the next great wave in crime-fighting.

Let's hope more Trentonians read this series and can take away some good information that can be applied here.

And let's hope our Public Officials read the series and realize that reducing crime is a serious issue and not just a public relations opportunity.

Reporters, Councilpersons, or the Public shouldn't have to resort to OPRA requests for information on crime in the city.

It's time to stop playing to the cameras and the press and talk about our crime problem, real or perceived, in a very real and open way.