New Jersey's largest city sees drop in homicides

Garry McCarthy had barely settled into his new job as Newark's police director in the fall of 2006 when he came face to face with the twin scourges of violence and apathy that plagued New Jersey's largest city.

Two drug dealers had waged a running gun battle through a crowded city neighborhood, firing dozens of shots from an AK-47 and a .45-caliber revolver and eventually killing each other.

Yet when McCarthy arrived at the scene he was less troubled by the cold-blooded nature of the crime than by the reaction it produced.

"The response I got from the officers and the community was, 'What do you expect? It's Newark,'" McCarthy said recently. "I said, 'What do I expect? Where's your outrage?' I started pounding that on our bosses here: Don't accept it for what it is, but accept that you can change it."

More than two years later, changes have occurred in Newark, a city defined in recent years by a homicide rate that spiked 80 percent from 2000 to 2006.

Halfway through Mayor Cory A. Booker's first term, homicides in 2008 are within reach of the 10-year low of 59, set in 2000. It's a vindication of sorts for the 39-year-old Booker, who rode into town on an anti-crime platform and immediately made some enemies by hiring McCarthy, an outsider, to run the police department.

Neither man is ready to claim victory just yet.

"I wouldn't call it an accomplishment," Booker said. "Instead I'd call it an encouragement that the investments we're making are paying off and giving us a clear vision of the work we still have to do."

The charismatic Booker, who lives in one of the city's highest-crime areas, has attracted attention for his hands-on approach. He regularly rides on patrols through some of Newark's toughest neighborhoods, where he is known to conduct one-on-one curbside counseling sessions with the city's late-night denizens.

As the city's biggest cheerleader, Booker bristled at a recent Esquire magazine profile that he felt portrayed the city unflatteringly and compared him to the Will Smith character in "I Am Legend" who saves Manhattan from zombies.

"My objection was the portrayal of Newark as some post-apocalyptic war zone where people aren't even human," Booker said.

Perceptions of Newark may have hit a low point in early 2007, after a year in which 106 homicides were committed in the city. The escalating violence prompted the Newark Teachers Union to pay for several billboards that screamed: "HELP WANTED: Stop The Killings In Newark Now!"

By the end of the year, homicides had accounted for 99 more deaths.

In contrast, in the first two months of 2008, the city enjoyed a 43-day stretch with no homicides — the first time that had happened in more than 40 years — and the billboards came down.

The recent drop in violent crime can be traced to a series of reforms and initiatives, many plucked from McCarthy's playbook from his years as New York City's chief crime strategist.

These have included a focus on so-called "quality of life" crimes such as loitering or public drunkenness; a revamping of schedules to put more police on duty during high-crime periods; the creation of the city's first unit dedicated to fighting the drug trade — a major source of gun violence — and the creation of a fugitive apprehension unit.

The crown jewel of the city's anti-crime effort — figuratively and in terms of cost — may have been the installation of a wireless network of more than 100 surveillance cameras in high-crime areas of the city.

Fast-tracked after the grisly triple murders of three college-bound friends last summer brought national attention to Newark's crime rate, the cameras have been credited with improving police response times and producing more arrests.

The sum effect on the homicide rate has been dramatic. Through the first week of July this year there were 31 homicides, compared to 48 in 2007.

"This has been a very steady progression," McCarthy said.

All seven categories of violent crime fell last year in Newark compared to 2006, according to statistics compiled by the Newark police department.

Property crimes, particularly burglaries, have risen this year compared to 2007, a development McCarthy said was due to a change in the police department's reporting system implemented last summer.

"It's not like we've won the war; we haven't won the war. But you look at what's happening day by day, week by week and month by month, and it's happening in a very progressive manner," he said.

Gun violence remains stubbornly ingrained in Newark's fabric, though, illustrated by the recent fatal shooting of an 18-year-old celebrating her high school graduation.

Booker conceded that changing hearts and minds will take time, but his optimism is unflagging. "In no way have we turned some magical corner," he said. "We're not there yet — but we're getting there."