The Trenton Times published the following article on July 8, 2013. To read the full article and view the video, click here.
Trenton gun violence ’empowered’ by mass police layoffs leaves 120 people shot in 6 months
By Alex Zdan/The Times
on July 08, 2013 at 6:00 AM, updated July 08, 2013 at 6:26 AMTRENTON — At 5:30 p.m. the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Beakes Street exploded in violence.
A man in a hoodie casually strolled toward two men chatting in front of a corner deli, pulled a handgun from his sweatshirt’s front pocket, and opened fire.
As the two men dove for cover, one tucking and rolling as he was shot in the foot, they both pulled out handguns of their own. The assailant, gun cupped in front of him, wheeled 45 degrees and shot suddenly at a 49-year-old city man named Nathaniel Matthews, whose only offense was crossing the street to get away. Matthews was blasted to the ground, a sandal flying off his right foot as he was shot in the stomach.
The pair of men shot back at the man in the hoodie, who sprinted back around the corner, taking one last shot over his shoulder as the more speedy gunman chased him. The wounded cohort, hobbling from the shot to the foot, limped across the street and briefly dropped his handgun before going back, picking it up from a puddle, and taking it with him.
This 15-second gunfight, captured on video by the deli’s security cameras, echoes an observation about Trenton criminals made in recent months by street cops, detectives and concerned citizens alike: Everyone has a gun.
On the city streets, the number of gunfights appears to be constantly escalating, they say. The concept of the shared “community gun” has virtually disappeared, as many now have their own guns and carry them in their waistbands, rather than stashing them inside a house or on the tire of a parked car, as some used to do to hide weapons.
“The lack of police presence has empowered and given offenders the confidence to engage in criminal activity without fear of apprehension,” Police Director Ralph Rivera Jr. said in a statement. “The lack of police presence gives these offenders the courage to engage in criminal activity and a greater window to avoid apprehension.”
Trenton lost more than 100 officers in a mass layoff in September 2011, and despite receiving federal grants to allow some rehiring, the department is still reeling from the decrease in manpower. Retirements continue to deplete the force nearly as quickly as officers are hired back.
In the chaos on the streets during the first six months of 2013, 120 people have been shot and 15 of them killed. Four other people have been killed in stabbings or motor vehicle crashes.
George Dzurkoc, the president of the Policemen’s Benevolent Association, said the layoffs and dearth of cops on the job have led criminals to think they can “run amok.”
“I one-hundred percent agree with the police director,” Dzurkoc said. “And it’s not for the lack of our (detectives) — they’re hunting these guys down as fast as they can.”
The Rev. Joseph Ravenell, pastor of Samaritan Baptist Church, has seen up close the impact of the spread of guns. In October, a drive-by shooting erupted in front of the church on Martin Luther King Boulevard as parishioners were leaving Sunday worship. One man was struck by a bullet fragment after a round ricocheted.
Ravenell said young men throughout the city are unconcerned about the police response to violence.
“One scary thing, though, is they don’t seem fazed,” he said. “They’re not afraid. It’s just another thing.”
Last December Rivera disbanded the department’s street-level anti-crime unit in a move blasted by union leaders and some citizens, who said it robbed the department of its ability to be proactive.
Rivera has stood by his decision, and last week again pointed to the mass layoffs as a larger factor driving the increase in violence.
“With an approximate 40 percent reduction of workforce since 2011, we don’t have the luxury of having numerous officers specifically assigned to aggressively and consistently patrol our high crime areas that are repeatedly identified through intelligence,” Rivera said. “While our authorized manpower strength was decreased significantly, our high volume of calls for services remained consistent.”
Patrol officers have been reorganized into suppression units that operate in areas that have seen recent violence. The State Police have sent in troopers on three occasions since early 2012, and a handful of Mercer County Sheriff’s officers ride the streets alongside city cops. But Dzurkoc and other officers said the current approach puts the department in a defensive crouch, reacting to crime after it happens rather than nipping violence in the bud.
“I can kind of agree with him on the overall manpower, because calls for service haven’t changed,” Dzurkoc said. “(But) you can’t rely on the State Police, you can’t rely on the sheriff’s office to bail you out of this.”
Criminals’ apparent comfort with carrying guns on the street is a surprising change to Dzurkoc, who from 1992 to 2000 served in Trenton’s nationally known proactive unit, which focused on street-level crimes.
“They were scared to death to carry guns,” he said of offenders during those days.
Since then, cell phones have brought changes that benefit corner drug dealers, allowing them to coordinate narcotics sales and violence out of the open and police view.
“Their network is a lot more sophisticated and a lot more organized than they were back then,” Dzurkoc said. “We aren’t.”
In 2005, when gang warfare contributed to a record 31 homicides for the year, exchanges of gunfire were less common because gang members often were not carrying weapons when they were attacked. In the furious back-and-forth of that spring and summer, one shooting would follow another by a few hours or days, because the gangsters needed time to arm themselves and organize their retaliation.
In 2009, when Sex Money Murder gang members fired into a crowd of people at a block party in Trenton, killing 13-year-old Tamrah Leonard, they still needed to meet in advance and get guns supplied to them, as they later testified in court.
Now, there is little the beleaguered Trenton Police Department can do to keep guns out of the hands of violent offenders.
“The lack of a street crimes unit has allowed exactly what the director said. It’s opened Pandora’s Box,” Dzurkoc said.
Ravenell agreed that firearms are more available and violence more open throughout the city, but said the police department’s struggles contribute little to it.
“It’s the culture, just the time we’re in,” Ravenell said. “Certainly the revenge concept is alive. No one is going to take the last hit. ‘You got my boy, I’m going to get yours.’ I think the idea of justice is more important than human life.”
“It seems to me they think they’re entitled to have a gun,” Ravenell said. “Because, ‘That’s my protection.’”
And the sad toll of victims struck by the rounds of those guns — including Nathaniel Matthews, who survived the Memorial Day shooting but faces a long recovery — is certain to continue.
“Another day, a different name,” Ravenell said.
Contact Alex Zdan at azdan@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5705.