Moves, including doubling some patrols, seek to increase officers’ safety.
By Barry Carter, The Star-Ledger (Newark, N.J.)
After three officers were shot in as many weeks, Newark police brass said yesterday that they will make changes to further assist a task force that targets high-crime neighborhoods.
Some of the changes, which will be outlined today, include increasing the number of backup officers and assigning four officers -- instead of two -- to areas known for drugs, said acting Police Director Anthony Ambrose.
Ambrose wouldn’t elaborate, but said the reforms are designed to ensure officer safety in the wake of the latest shooting, on Sunday, of officer Patrick Cantalupo, 31.
The changes were decided upon after Ambrose talked with Mayor Sharpe James and met with his command staff, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 12, the Hispanic Law Enforcement Society of Essex County and the Bronze Shields, an organization of black police officers in the department.
Ambrose said the moves do not mean officers are doing anything wrong.
“We’re looking to make it safer by adding backup and certain people on certain assignments.”
Officials from the union and police organizations approved of the changes and ones that will have officers take additional training.
Antonio Gonzalez, president of the Hispanic Law Enforcement Society, said the injured officers acted properly, but his organization wants to make sure other officers are prepared and safe.
“I commend Ambrose for bringing everybody into the room for our input,” he said.
Anthony Kerr, president of the Bronze Shields, said he’s on a committee, established based on the meeting, that will review training methods.
“It’s a step in the right direction, because it addresses today and tomorrow,” he said.
Derrick Hatcher, vice president of the police union, said officers have concerns about the shootings, so the changes are to make them more careful.
On Sunday, Cantalupo was shot in broad daylight while making a drug arrest at Felix Fuld, a low-rise housing development on Muhammad Ali Avenue.
Cantalupo, who was treated for a gunshot wound to the buttocks, was shot by two men who opened fire from a Dodge Intrepid. His partner returned fire.
Police officials are not sure if the gunmen were shooting at the officer or the drug suspect, who was arrested and accused of committing a robbery earlier.
One of the suspects in the shooting, Quawwee Mitchell, was arrested after the Intrepid crashed into another vehicle blocks away. He suffered a gunshot wound to the face. His accomplice is still at large.
The police department formed a task force with the prosecutor’s office, State Police, the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI to find the second suspect.
Ambrose said he plans to ask the prosecutor’s office to charge the suspects in all three shootings with attempted murder. The Hispanic Law Enforcement Society has offered a $500 reward for information leading to the additional arrests in Cantalupo’s shooting.
Cantalupo’s shooting came after officers Richard Borges and Patrick Gonnella were shot this month over a four-day period.
Borges was shot in the shoulder July 10 when he tried to stop a suspect during a tavern inspection. Gonnella was shot several times on July 13 by a man near West Side Park when he got out of his police cruiser. The suspect was killed following a foot chase when he refused to drop his weapon.
All three officers are members of the Neighborhood Enforcement Stabilization Task Force. One part of the unit, known as the train, moves into areas with three to five police cars.
City officials said the unit is aggressive, tackling quality of life issues from drugs and murder to traffic stops and public drinking. In doing so, however, James and Ambrose realize that officers are more vulnerable to violence.
Since the first shooting, city and police officials have said the mission of the task force will not change, although the union expressed concern for officers’ safety.
Ambrose was steadfast again yesterday, saying the department will continue to weed out drug dealers to improve neighborhoods in the city where residents have complained about open-air drug dealing and other quality of life issues.
“I don’t like the idea that this is the cost, but we’ll continue the task force and make sure citizens are not held hostage,” Ambrose said.
Since the task force started in April, Ambrose said homicides are down nearly 10 percent compared with a three-month period last year from April through June. He said overall crime also is down during the same time frame.
George Kelling, who runs the Police Institute at Rutgers University in Newark, said it’s important the department reviews training methods and each incident in which an officer was shot.
“I don’t know if this represents a period of bad luck or whether there is more willingness to shoot a police officer,”’ Kelling said.
Kelling, however, said many people still carry guns in the city, even though the police department has tried to reduce the number through various efforts.
“When you get this proliferation of gun carrying, then you have a serious problem in the community, and Newark has that now.”