Mayor Booker's 3-Year Public Safety Report

The Daily Newarker posted the Public Safety Report issued by Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker and Police Director Garry F. McCarthy.

Newark officials attribute 21 percent reduction to overall crime rate

to modern technology, alliances, community engagement and anti-gun strategies;

Newark the second city in the country to Los Angeles in reducing gun violence;

Mayor highlights Newark’s prisoner reentry programs

for dropping participants’ one-year recidivism rate to 10 percent

I haven't been to Newark in years, except for driving in and out of the airport. But even that, combined with what I read on the internet, makes me a bit suspicious of any report describing it as "improved."

At the press conference, the Mayor and Police Director McCarthy displayed crime statistics for the past three years, all of which showed a steady decrease in violence crime, despite an increase in murders in 2009, which saw 77 killings, 10 more than 2008’s total of 67. A list of Police Department highlights for the past three years is attached.

“We must remember that this uptick is still lower than the 2007 figure of 99 killings in Newark, and 107 in 2006,” Director McCarthy said. “We finished 2009 with 30 fewer homicides than in 2006. So while we take pride in these figures and how they validate our efforts, they also remind us that we still have more work to do.”

What's your opinion? Is Newark a good example of the multiple factors which are involved in crime, gun availability being just one? What could be the explanation for the strongly fluctuating murder statistics?

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