Monday’s City Council meeting began with Council President Annie McWilliams calling on Police Director Martin Hellwig to talk about recent homicides that have followed a six-month wave of shootings.
Hellwig said all four homicides occurred in the West End. Arrests were made in the fatal shooting of a taxi driver and the beating death of a bar security guard, but the Union County Homicide Task Force and local police are still investigating the shooting of a 17-year-old student Thursday and a 23-year-old man Friday.
Hellwig said police were following a number of leads to solve the two latest homicides, but had made no arrests as yet. He said the city is doing a number of things to abate violent crime, but noted New York City has experienced a double-digit increase in homicides and that violent crime is up in New Jersey.
After Hellwig said he was not sure what more could be done with the present manpower, Councilwoman Bridget Rivers asked about calling in the National Guard or other outside help. Hellwig called the notion of reaching out for the National Guard “extreme” and said of the victims, “A lot of these are targeted individuals.”
Rivers said her biggest fear was that a baby or a senior would be caught in gunfire. She said from her home, she can hear gunshots every night “like firecrackers.”
“What do you need from us?” Rivers asked.
Hellwig said he needs “support in moving forward with technology” including downtown surveillance cameras.
“I just want to assure the community that steps are being taken,” Rivers said.
Hellwig cited the value of police intelligence, saying two men armed with automatic weapons had been stopped before they could commit a homicide.
McWilliams asked any family members of victims to step forward and called gun violence a national problem.
Former Fourth Ward Councilwoman Joanne Hollis came to the microphone to deplore a lack of activities for young people, a sentiment echoed by several other speakers who called on the community at large to take up youth mentoring and counseling roles. At a budget hearing that followed the comments on crime, speakers voiced support for Recreation Superintendent Dave Wynn and his programs, saying they must not be cut. McWilliams said there was a “misperception” that came up every year that the city was going to “decimate recreation,” which she said was not true.
(Plaintalker will report on other council matters in upcoming posts.)
--Bernice Paglia
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Why does Hellwig take personal credit when crime in the City is low but when it skyrockets he compares Plainfield to New York City?!?! Of course there is low manpower at the Police Division Mr. Hellwig, that’s because in the 5 years you’ve been here you’ve done nothing to boost it. You should have been hiring cops the day you got here, not 5 years later. You’ve cut the command staff to nothing and you provide no leadership yourself, not that any self respecting cop would follow your lead anyway. Your answer to solving violent crime in Plainfield is to start a Traffic Unit and park your big Police RV in the housing projects. (look out criminals!)..Oh, and the victims “were targeted individuals”, couldn’t you have used a better term for two young men who were shot to death?
ReplyDeleteHow about this, maybe Plainfield is not ready for the National Guard just yet, although I’m sure the mothers of those young men wouldn’t think so, but why don’t you seek assistance from the Prosecutor’s Office, the County Police and the State Police. It’s been done before and worked very well.. Secondly, why don’t you move on? The Mayor can then hire someone with real experience, perhaps someone who actually worked and lived in Plainfield and has experience with the people and problems of this City (maybe one of those Captains you forced into early retirement?)
Hellwig is an idiot who is only in his position because of his relationship with Shady Sharon and Joltin Jerry. He needs to take some responsibility and come up with a plan, which I don't think he is smart enough or qualified enough to do. Thanks again Sharon and Jerry.
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteWell said. It's too bad we have people in government who can't see past their nose!
My comment for the police - why are they not out walking? That is how they cleaned up Times Square. The police were seen on the streets 24/7. Also, is there a health test that the police must pass every year? Some of them are very out of shape, and I wonder how they could catch a criminal even if they were walking.
ReplyDeleteSecond - Recreation - My question is how many of the people in support of Dave Wynn are seasonal workers getting paid through recreation? I would like to see the names of the seasonal workers - my suspicion is that if we have 200 seasonal positions, it goes to 50 - 100 people in Plainfield, not 200.
Why is it that we have to wait for two kids to be killed for the community to come to Council? Why do we have to wait for us to once again become the murder capital of Union county? Why do we have to wait for senseless loss of young lives to occur to have Council president ask Helwig what is going on?
ReplyDeletethink about it.