Here is a writeup of this last Tuesday's Police Meet and Greet for certain residents of the 4th Ward from Rami Pinchevsky (photos are courtesy of Tony Soares):
This past Tuesday night, the Hoboken Police Department hosted a meet and greet for residents of Hoboken living south of 6th Street, and west of Madison.
Chief Falco introduced himself and spoke a little on his visions for the City. 4th Ward Councilman Michael Lenz also made a brief statement mentioning how he was eager to work with the department and thanking them for putting together the event.
Many members of the police department spoke on various topics, including:
Light Rail Problems: Officer Jason Falco mentioned that between December 2008 and January 2009, there were 7 aggravated assaults at the Light Rail station. As a result, the have installed better lighting and increased police patrol resulting in zero violent crimes since.
Burglaries: Lieutenant Ferrante discussed that Hoboken has fortunately not had serious numbers of home invasions in recent years, with most burglaries these days related to bikes and postal packages. He went over various ways in which one could reduce the likelihood of being a target of theft. In addition, he mentioned that if your building has been burglarized, the police would come and thoroughly review the property and produce a complete report detailing ways to better protect your property.
Traffic and Pedestrian Safety: Sergeant Marnell explained that most traffic infractions in Hoboken are attributable to running stop signs and double parking. Last year they issued 713 traffic summons. That number does not include tickets issues by the Parking Authority. Several other officers also spoke about bike safety, school/juvenile problems, and auto burglaries/vandalisms. Officer Barbro specifically mentioned that car burglaries tend to increase during the Holiday season. A very easy trick, which many people tend to ignore, is to simply not leave anything of value in eyesight within your car.
After a 10-minute break, where those attending where asked to fill out the Police Community Survey, it was on to the Q&A session. First question was whether to dial 911, or call the Hoboken Police directly at 201-420-2100. If you call 911, you’ll eventually be transferred to the Hoboken Police department. So if you have the direct number, its better to just dial it rather than 911.
While attendance wasn’t overwhelming, there certainly was a good mix of residents representing different areas of the 4th Ward. There were many questions regarding the safety and police presence within the Hoboken Housing Authority. Several HHA residents described their experiences in calling the HPD with the phone call going unanswered. Some of the HHA residents were upset with the amount of time it took between calling the police and having them actually show up. They also discussed how they routinely see other residents of the HHA drinking, and sometimes smoking (not cigarettes), in public. They were hopeful that the police would begin more strict enforcement.
Other questions/suggestions included the possibility of closing down certain roads in the 4th Ward when it flooded, enforcement of illegal parkers, and the idea of a city-wide 311 system for non-emergency calls.
All in all, this was a great way to open up the lines of communication between members of the public and the HPD. The meeting lasted about 3 hours, and I believe everyone left fairly satisfied with how things went.
My comment:
Hoboken Chief Anthony Falco should deservedly get some praise for reaching out to the community with these meet and greets. At the same time the City of Hoboken is a period where we need to do more with less. Chief Falco is not responsible for our police force being too top heavy and overcompensated at the top, that is the work of prior administrations in my opinion.
Having now met with the new chief on several occassions I do think he has been attentive to citizen's concerns but he will need to continue to improve the effectiveness of the police department in terms of its operations. So far he has talked the talk about being accountable and also shown that he means business when it comes to discipline. Several months back a Hoboken police offcier was arrested on alchol related charges. According to my sources he was a repeat offender but prior leadership didn't do anything to rid the rest of of the police force from this troubled officer. When that happens it is simply bad for the morale for the many good cops who want to make a difference. I believe in due process and this officer should get a chance to defend himself but the act of the HPD arresting one of it's own officers would almost have been unheard of a few years ago under the old chief. Chief Falco is thus off to a good start and should get our support as long as progress continues to be made.
With that said, I still think Hoboken needs better foot patrols and better scheduling of those patrols to ensure Hoboken has the proper coverage for public safety at all times. The scheduling should be done with respect to the coverage needed and not the convienience of the officers. I do not claim to have expertise in this area but rather I was hopeful that the operational audit of the Police Department would have been available to the public by now to help shed some light on this issue. The HPD was started by the State Fiscal monitor last year and is still in draft form. I would like to see that deliverable released as it does pertain to the upcoming discussion on the 2010 fiscal budget. Judy Tripodi, please release the HPD Operational Audit! Pretty please! :)
Here is hoping that the fine officers of the HPD get behind Chief Falco's new vision and leadership to make the necessary improvements to better serve our community. Please don't take my comments as anything more than my general observations with perhaps a small dose of constructive critiscism meant to encourage growth in the right direction. Regardless of the Department whether its fire, police or City Hall, there is always room for improvement. ◦
