NCJ Number
89405
Date Published
1983
Length
74 pages
Annotation
As acute street crime problems have grown over the past 3 decades in Newark, N.J., the city's policies have staved off some disasters but failed to improve police service or address the underlying causes of crime.
Abstract
Newark's economic decline, the evaporation of unskilled jobs, the abruptness of the racial transition, and the strength of organized crime have promoted the growth of street crime. Prior to 1954, the city was governed by a five-man commission that was incapable of formulating policy and generally ignored crime problems. The police department was similarly ill-organized, unproductive, and overstaffed. Between 1954 and 1962, the city had a reform mayor who finally brought in a police director from outside the department. This man accomplished a basic departmental upgrading that made the Newark police capable of employing an analytic approach to crime problems, including an overhaul of patrol practices and higher educational criteria for officers. Crime still did not become a political issue, largely because its victims were poor and minorities who were not politically organized or powerful. From 1962 to 1970, the mayor and his police director worked in harmony using a political approach to decisionmaking, but this cooperation did not produce effective policies. Poor relations persisted between police officers and minority groups, police brutality emerged as an issue, crime rose, and the 1967 riots signaled a watershed in Newark's history. The city elected its first black mayor in 1970, but the ensuing years have been characterized by fierce struggles between the mayor and the city council as well as between the police director and the police union. Federal and State funds were channeled into Newark, but many projects were unable to sustain themselves because of a mismatch between program objectives and the city's needs. A second period of departmental upgrading insulated from political pressures could improve police capabilities to cope with crime, whereas increasing manpower has failed. Graphs, tables, 6 footnotes, and approximately 75 references are included.