Ever since Richard Turner became mayor of Weehawken in 1990, one of the major goals of his administration has been a dramatic reduction in crime.
After the release of the 2002 crime figures, it appears as if Turner’s goals continue to be met as he begins his fourth term in office.
According to Weehawken Public Safety Director Jeff Welz, the overall crime rate dropped 7 percent from 2001 to 2002. There were 501 crimes reported in 2002, compared to the 541 crimes reported in 2001.
Non-violent crimes dropped 5 percent, from 508 reported in 2001 to 482 reported last year. Auto theft was down 11 percent, from 101 thefts in 2001 to 90 a year ago. Burglary is down 18 percent, from 88 reported in 2001 to 72 reported in 2002.
Violent crimes, including robbery and assault, dropped from 28 in 2001 to 19 in 2002.
“It was a team effort,” Welz said. “When you have consistent crime reductions, it’s a combination of our police officers, our elected officials, but also our residents, who do a fine job of spotting suspicious activity and reporting it to the police. Several arrests were made last year based on tips from residents.”
Needless to say, Turner was more than impressed with the crime figures.
“The numbers are fantastic,” Turner said. “It’s just another fine job by our outstanding police department. The numbers are now equal to the mid-1970s. It’s incredible and almost hard to believe that our numbers were 1,100 in 1991. Overall crime is down. Violent crime is down. The progress has been steady. We are regularly exceeding state and federal crime numbers. It’s a great accomplishment and I’m very encouraged by the numbers.”
Although the released crime figures are certainly a step in the right direction, Welz said that the department will not rest on its laurels.
“Our overall numbers are tremendous, but we’re not going to sit back and relax,” Welz said. “We’re planning on putting additional officers on the force. We have 54 members now, which is an all-time high. Idealistically, we would like to have no crime, but realistically, we live in an urban area. We will be constantly monitoring activity. We’re not satisfied and won’t be until there’s no crime at all.”
Welz also said that the crime figures dropped even with the increased activity along the waterfront, like the highly traveled areas at the Lincoln Harbor Plaza.
“The numbers are really deceiving because in the mid-1970s, we didn’t have waterfront development,” Welz said. “A lot of the crimes are petty larcenies that take place inside the corporate facilities and not the residential area. Take those away and our numbers are even more startling. The ability to continually reduce crime as the size of the town grows is amazing. It doesn’t readily happen. When a town grows, there’s more area for potential crime. When a town grows, the crime numbers grow, but that’s not the case. It’s a tremendous compliment to the police force.”
Both Welz and Turner admitted that they hope the numbers will continue to drop and will put procedures into place to possibly insure that.
“We’re maintaining our manpower,” Welz said. “We all know that maintaining a police force is the most expensive operation to fund in municipal government. Our force is at 54 and rising. We’re pleased that we have a commitment from the Township Council to hire extra officers, so we don’t have this lull time when officers retire. The officers, residents and council all share in this tremendous reduction in crime.”
“We still have to be vigilant,” Turner said. “We’re in the process of reorganizing and re-establishing the force, so I believe there’s more to come. We’re always trying a variety of means to keep the crime rate down.”