Putting the public back in public safety: New report documents Newark’s shift to prevention in community policing
Read the full Reimagining Public Safety in Newark report here.
Newark Opportunity Youth Network (NOYN) and its policy advocacy initiative, My Brother’s Keeper Newark (MBKN), in partnership with the Office of Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka and Equal Justice USA, has released its report, Reimagining Public Safety in Newark. The report, which chronicles the history of Newark from before the 1967 Rebellion to present day, details the impact of Newark’s 2014 Consent Decree and the Newark Department of Public Safety’s push to enact a series of reforms designed to put the public back in public safety.
“As this report shows, the challenges facing our public safety systems cannot be solved with more effective interventions alone. We must evolve our approach and begin to move from reaction to prevention - disrupting the pipeline at the source,” said Robert Clark, CEO of NOYN. “Whether it’s school discipline policies, stationhouse adjustments, or community-based violence prevention, a reimagined system of public safety can be our legacy to the next generation.”
Read the full report here.
The 2020 deaths of Breonna Taylor of Louisville, Ahmaud Arbery of Georgia and George Floyd of Minneapolis - among others - ignited a national conversation on police reform and how policing can be reimagined to curb brutality and excessive use of force and to prevent loss of life. The national My Brother’s Keeper Alliance sent out a call-to-action, asking all MBK communities to assess their city’s public safety strategies. This report is a response to that call.
As part of the process, MBKN convened a group of independent reviewers - including Junius Williams, Richard Roper, Richard Cammarieri, and Linda M. Carter, who was a resident of E.W. Scudder Homes at the time of the Rebellion - to evaluate the research and provide historical context for Newark’s recent efforts. The results detail how the city’s progressive public health approach has led Newark to one of its lowest crime rates in decades. The city’s violence prevention strategy leverages longstanding, community-led violence prevention advocates like Newark Community Street Team (NCST), BRICK City Peace Collective and its network of initiative -- Newark Anti-Violence Coalition, Newark Street Academy, the HUBB -- as well as cross-sector collaborations with Newark Board of Education, University Hospital and Rutgers Public Safety Collaborative, as vital crime prevention tools that foster positive community relations.
“Reimagining public safety has been a top priority of my administration since I took office in 2014,” said Mayor Ras J. Baraka. “By law enforcement and the community strategically working together, Newark’s crime rates are the lowest they have been in decades. Homicides are down 38% from 2013 to 2019, carjacking is down 84%, and the overall crime is the lowest it has been in 50 years. I am proud of the progress we have made, and simultaneously recognize that we have more work to do.”
By reimagining public safety, Newark has adopted a public health approach to violence in the community that prioritizes prevention over reaction. Though Newark has more work to do in public safety, the city’s successes are a sign of hope that progress is possible.
Read the full report here.
“For more than 50 years going back to the Newark Rebellion, residents of Newark fiercely advocated for a transformed police department. Through our work on the federal Independent Monitoring Team, we are centering the community’s voice in building a new system of policing in Newark. A new system that prioritizes accountability for law enforcement officials. A new system that looks beyond policing to what community investments residents need to really be safe. A new system right here in Newark that serves as a national model for what policing can look like," said Ryan P. Haygood, President and CEO of New Jersey Institute of Social Justice (NJISJ).