The Jersey City Independent "

Crime has been one of the hot-button issues in this year’s mayoral campaign. But as any amateur sociologist can tell you, crime is about a lot more than crimes themselves — it is about the society in which crimes happen. With that in mind, we recently asked the mayoral candidates a set of questions about the current crime situation in the city, as well as broader social issues and policies related to criminal justice.

While incumbent Mayor Jerramiah Healy and challengers Dan Levin, Lou Manzo and Harvey Smith all agree that public safety is an ongoing concern in Jersey City, they outlined different approaches to work on solving the problem. Candidate Phil Webb did not return requests for comment.

The Extent of the Problem

“Jersey City is safer now than when I first took office. This is a major achievement of this administration,” Healy says. “However, people still do not feel as safe as they would like to, and that is why public safety remains my number one priority.”

He says his administration has “tackled head-on” the crime problems facing Jersey City: “drugs, gangs, the proliferation of illegal guns, and now, joblessness.”

Healy points to his record as proof of his dedication to fighting crime. He singles out the creation of an anti-gang unit, the hiring of more police officers and the enforcement of the business curfew as just a few of the things his administration has done to keep the city safe.

But other candidates say the administration simply hasn’t done enough.

“I’m a lifelong resident here,” Manzo says. “This is the worst I’ve ever seen it.” He adds that many of the senior citizens he’s spoken with, who’ve lived in Jersey City even longer, agree.

“This administration isn’t doing anything to combat it,” he says. “They’re surrending to crime rather than being proactive about it.”

Smith agrees the crime problem is “pretty bad,” and that it’s distressing to “see it everywhere now.” He also takes the Healy campaign to task for “trying to paint such a rosy picture of the crime situation.”

When asked how bad he thinks the problem is, Levin takes himself out of the equation.

“It’s not really how bad I think it is,” he says. “It’s how bad the public thinks it is.” He points out that the perception of crime exacerbates the crime problem.

“If the public doesn’t feel safe, they won’t go out,” Levin says, “which can then create more opportunities for crime.”

So what would the candidates do to create a safer Jersey City?

Healy points to his record, and says his administration has already made progress by creating an anti-gang unit in the JCPD, instituting the crime-tracking computer system CompStat and fighting against illegal guns, which he says is “perhaps the most distressing issue facing urban and rural America.”

Healy notes that he introduced a “lost or stolen” handgun ordinance in 2006, which requires gun owners to report missing guns within 48 hours. He also touts the ordinance the city passed in 2006 limiting individual buyers to one handgun purchase per month — the city passed in 2006. The law was struck down by the state Superior Court after a court challenge from a local gun shop and the National Rifle Association. The city appealed that ruling, and the state Supreme Court is set to hear the appeal soon. At the same time, the city has pushed for the same law on the state level, where it has been passed by the Assembly and awaits a Senate vote.

“What we are doing is working,” Healy says. “We just need to keep vigilant, and yes, hire more cops.” He says his administration has hired 250 officers while about 100 have left the force, bringing the total number of officers to “about 895.” Healy says it will be his goal to increase the force to 1,000 officers.

But the other candidates say it isn’t so much the size of the force as what the officers do.

“Every city in America will say they need more police — we’re no exception,” Smith says. “At the same time, local budgets are strained to the breaking point.”

The key, Smith says, is to supplement any possible hiring with smarter use of the force. He proposes less desk-based work and more beat-walking and using problem-oriented policing, a strategy that calls for the identification and analysis of specific problems and includes public/private partnerships.

“We can’t have the majority of the police force on vacation during the summer months when we know street crime increases,” he says.

Levin agrees with Smith, saying the key is to use the force more effectively. He proposes having civilians, not officers, in lower-level and clerical jobs within the JCPD, so the officers can focus on policing.

He advocates community-based policing, a concept similar to problem-oriented policing, which involves cooperation between the city, the community and the police department and more cops walking and biking around neighborhoods.

“The public feels better, and feels the area is safer, with that presence,” he says. That feeling then in turn creates more eyes on the street, which in turn helps to further deter crime.

Levin also points to a program in New York City called Operation Impact as something the city should pursue. The program pairs a newer officer with a more veteran officer and puts them out on foot in some of the most dangerous areas, supported by radio cars on the perimeter.

Manzo is more straightforward when asked if the city needs new police officers.

“No, we need a new mayor,” he says. He says the special units have been centralized, and that the city needs to decentralize. Manzo would like to see representatives from special units housed in local precincts and, like Levin and Smith, he’d like to see more cops on the streets.

Manzo says he’d beef up neighborhood patrols while instituting a zero-tolerance, 100-percent enforcement attitude for all offenses.

“The gangs know they own the streets,” he says. “They’re probably hoping Healy gets reelected.”

Getting to the Root

All the candidates acknowledge that addressing underlying social issues and inequities is just as, if not more, important to controlling crime than any police tactic.

Manzo stresses the need to use the school board, church organizations, community groups and social-service organizations to identify at-risk youth. Among other things, he advocates opening more recreational facilities and gyms.

“If you give kids tools … if you give them pens and books,” Manzo says, “they won’t want to pick up guns.”

Levin also says he’d work to improve youth recreation opportunities, and take a more “holistic approach” to “preventing crime — not reacting after it happens.” In addition to community-based policing and youth opportunities, Levin stresses the need for a broader economic development program in the city to give people “a viable choice for a living-wage job.”

Smith takes a similar tack, saying that “crime feeds on the poor and the under-educated” in Jersey City.

“We must create economic opportunities for those who are otherwise headed for a life of crime. Blue-collar jobs in warehouses, factories and similar employment must be a priority,” he says. “We will work to create jobs in the inner city that put people to work before their desperation leads them to crime.”

At the same time, he says “we also have to change the culture in our communities” by “[building] real bridges between the police and the communities most affected by crime.”

Smith also points to the education system as failing the community and contributing to the crime problem. He says he’d “welcome the opportunity to appoint the school board” and says the city’s schools need “more vocational training and career preparation.”

Healy says his administration’s philosophy is “preventing crime before it happens.” He says he’s expanded the Police Activity League in the last four years from two to 14 programs, which has brought about 1,000 more young people into the program.

“Giving our children positive outlets and positive role models is one of the most
effective ways we can build our community and fight crime,” Healy says. He also points to a grant the JCPD and Board of Education received last year from the federal Justice Department to fund a pilot program — Gang Resistance Education and Training, or G.R.E.A.T. — that brings cops into the classroom to educate children on gang issues.

Recidivism

Once people are released from prison, they often have a hard time reentering society and staying out of prison. The criminal justice system’s revolving door is one of the biggest crime issues today, with 55 percent of adults leaving New Jersey’s prisons eventually being rearrested, about half of those within the first nine months, according to the Department of Corrections.

The average person leaving a New Jersey prison is 34 years old, has the reading level of a 6th grader, and has spent 2.5 years behind bars. These newly-released individuals face numerous obstacles as they try to get back on their feet, from drug addiction to mental illness to poor employment skills.

While pointing out that the state has the power to change a number of laws that make life difficult for ex-offenders, Smith says there is still a role for Jersey City to play.

“We can help locally by making existing job and job training programs work more effectively, and by working with community groups and local business to provide a safe landing and a second chance for someone who’s done his time,” he says. “Bringing economic development to the inner city is a critical component.”

Smith suggests using tax incentives and other economic development programs to spur small business that will create warehouse jobs, factory work, maintenance work and similar positions. “These jobs are the first point of re-entry for some of these men and women,” he says. “The best crime prevention program is always a J-O-B.”

Levin says that second-chance programs like Ready, Willing & Able should be implemented in the city and that he’d advocate for non-violent offenders having their records expunged so they can have more employment and housing options. “It’s not about an eye for an eye,” he says. “It’s about preventing crime going forward.”

Manzo agrees with Levin that second-chance programs and expungement reforms are necessary, saying that in the state Assembly he worked hard to get an expungement reform bill out of committee for the first time in decades.

He also says he’d immediately reinstate funding for the Doe Fund’s Ready, Willing & Able program, which provides work and job skills support for homeless and formerly incarcerated individuals. The program had a Jersey City branch, complete with a 59-bed homeless shelter, until February, when it closed because of a falloff in donations to the Doe Fund as a result of the recession. The city chose not to fill the more than $1 million budget gap left by the Doe Fund. At the time, city business administrator Brian O’Reilly pointed out that not all members of the program were Jersey City residents, and that as such it was less of a funding priority.

“It was really callous” of Healy not to fund it, Manzo says.

But Healy says the Jersey City Incinerator Authority (JCIA) is picking up where the Doe Fund’s program left off. He says the JCIA has hired 20 former Ready, Willing & Able employees — “all of whom are Jersey City residents.”

He says the JCIA also operates almost as a separate second-chance program, having employed dozens of second-chance individuals. “We have given them employment, but through the program, they also receive counseling and guidance,” Healy says. “Many of them have been successful and worked themselves into higher positions at the authority.”

Lastly, Healy points to a $375,000 grant his administration is pursuing with community partners to institute a “full-service second chance prisoner re-entry program” to be funded with federal stimulus monies.

The Drug Problem

Much of the crime in Jersey City can be traced in one way or another to illicit drugs. Many researchers have shown the extraordinary burden put on the criminal justice system by jailing low-level drug offenders. Most of the mayoral candidates say they support decriminalizing some drugs and implementing other alternative approaches.

“Our long-term solutions are in the decriminalization of illicit drugs,” Levin says, arguing that it would be one way to help minimize violence related to the drug trade and that it would keep some people from falling into a lifelong pattern of crime.

“Becoming a criminal may prevent someone from ultimately growing beyond that,” he says. He’d like to reduce the level of incarceration for people who commit nonviolent crimes in order to give people a future.

Levin says he supports drug courts — which divert non-violent, substance abusing offenders from prison and jail into treatment — for low-level drug offenses like possession and theft related to addiction. “Give the courts leeway to take the human approach,” he says, especially when the person involved is a youth. “Nothing good can come out of incarcerating a teenager.”

Smith, a former drug counselor, also supports drug courts — “in conjunction with rehabilitation and educational efforts.” He says he’d “take a holistic approach” and make sure that drug rehabilitation programs are open to anyone who wants to get clean.

“I know it is extremely difficult to kick a drug habit, and when you’re poor and under-served by your educational system, it’s even harder,” he says. “We can’t just dismiss someone who’s addicted to drugs by telling them to just say no.”

Smith adds that he has no tolerance for those who aren’t willing to also help themselves. “I have no sympathy for someone who is able-bodied and reasonably intelligent and still decides to deal drugs in his community,” he says. “He is a vulture.”

Manzo says he’d work to expand treatment facilities, which he alleges are woefully inadequate in Jersey City. “It’s something Healy’s completely neglected,” Manzo says. He also supports the use of drug courts for low-level offenses.

Healy disagrees.

“We don’t need drug courts,” he says. “Our courts already have the tools and discretion needed to sentence people appropriately, including for outpatient treatment and employment requirements. This only adds another unnecessary level of bureaucracy.”

Healy does, however, advocate the decriminalization of marijuana, saying “the amount of time, effort, energy, money and other resources spent enforcing the marijuana prohibition is non-productive and wasteful.”

Needle Exchange

In 2006, New Jersey became the last state in the country to legalize an important public health tool when it approved a pilot needle exchange program. For years, the harm-reduction program had been held up in New Jersey over concerns about drug abuse and crime.

Cities around the state had to apply to be part of the program, but Jersey City missed the initial deadline. After the state extended the deadline, the City Council approved an ordinance allowing the creation of a program, but with no state funding attached, needle exchange in Jersey City went nowhere.

Similar programs in Atlantic City and Newark have gotten up and running via public/private partnerships, with the city working hand-in-hand with local social service nonprofits. The officials running Newark’s year-old program recently said that it had taken more than 130,000 dirty needles off the streets, preventing up to 600 drug users from contracting HIV.

Last year, the state Department of Health and Senior Services found nearly 6,500 cases of individuals with HIV or AIDS in Jersey City over the past 20-odd years. Of those, 38 percent had contracted the diseases via injection drug use — a higher percentage than any of the others, including both male-to-male and heterosexual sexual contact.

Healy says the city has been waiting “first to observe the results in other municipalities, and second to partner with an organization that had its own financial resources,” since the city didn’t have the ability to fund it.

Healy says initial meetings have taken place with an organization that wants to run the program here, and a program could come to the city as early as June. But for now, it remains stalled out.

“That was a real missed opportunity,” Levin says. “These are opportunities to make a difference in peoples’ lives.” He points out that in addition to the public health aspect, needle exchange helps to save costs on medical expenses and treatment of people who may contract a disease and then, lacking insurance, burden the health care system.

Smith says he’d also support a program, and would look to other cities’ private/public partnerships as an example to follow.

“The fact is that needle exchange programs help stop the spread of a deadly disease,” he says. “We have to get past our political differences on this issue and treat it as a public health issue. The city’s health department should take the lead in conjunction with well-run community based organizations.”

Manzo, however, says looking at needle exchange before implementing a more complete rehabilitation plan in the city is putting the cart before the horse.

“Just to have a needle exchange program without having a successful treatment program just provides addicts with the savings,” he says. “I’m opposed until we can have the treatment programs.”

Sex Offender Residency Restrictions

Among ex-offenders, sex offenders have a special place reserved in the American consciousness. Vilified by the media and toxic to most politicians, they face extra difficulties reentering society.

In 2006, Jersey City added to that difficulty by enacting a law preventing convicted sex offenders from living within 2500 feet of a wide variety of locations, including schools, parks, convenience stores, public libraries, daycare centers, and bowling alleys.

These types of residency restriction laws have been criticized on several fronts. Many advocates point out that they don’t prevent sexual crimes, and actually make it more difficult for offenders to reintegrate into society. Others note that the majority of sex offenses are committed by a family member of the victim, not a stranger. Still others say municipal-level ordinances conflict with the state Megan’s Law statute — and that court challenge may in fact nix all municipal residency restriction laws.

Healy, whose team on the council voted in the ordinance, says he supports notification laws but did not answer the question about residency restriction.

Levin and Smith both say they think the city’s law may be the wrong way to deal with the problem.

“These types of crimes tend to be highly visible and emotional,” Levin says. He thinks the law may be too punitive and that it serves to further isolate an at-risk population.

“I think that we should revisit the law in order to allow people to participate in the community,” he says, adding that he wouldn’t unilaterally remove the restrictions without public support. He proposes taking some of the critical studies out into the community and getting input from residents before making any change.

Smith says he thinks monitoring can be more effective than residency restrictions.

“Residency restrictions are frequently unenforceable and shouldn’t be a substitute for monitoring,” Smith says. “I know that sex offenses are especially horrible, and it’s frightening to parents. I’m a parent myself. But we can’t give in to fear and allow it to force us into bad law.”

Manzo, on the other hand, is in full favor of the residency restriction law. “I support the one the city currently has,” he says.

Police Oversight

Admitting that it “might not be a popular idea,” Levin says he’d be interested in having a civilian complaint review board like the one in New York City, which investigates complaints about police misconduct.

He says that while some might say such a board is “coming down” on the JCPD, it is not about punishing cops. “It’s about fair and just enforcement of the law and treating people with dignity and respect,” Levin says.

Levin also says he’d “lean towards” the videotaping of all police interrogations. Smith, too, says he’d support videotaping, which has been shown to decrease the number of false confessions and increase the reliability of confessions presented as evidence.

“As with many criminal justice issues, there are emotional arguments on either side,” he says, “but suspects have the right to the assumption of innocence and the respect of the law enforcement and court systems.”

Manzo says that interrogations should be videotaped “as a practical matter,” while Healy says that decision would be up to the Hudson County Prosecutor and the courts to decide.

MORE: To see more of the candidates’ views on crime, check out their websites: Healy, Levin, Manzo, Smith and Webb.

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