The Trenton Times published the following article on February 4, 2014. To read the full article, click here.
Police director offers new anti-crime unit for Trenton
By Jenna Pizzi/The Times of Trenton
on February 04, 2014 at 10:06 PM, updated February 04, 2014 at 10:15 PMTRENTON — Fourteen months after disbanding the department’s anti-crime unit, with the capital city’s bloodiest year on record behind him, police Director Ralph Rivera Jr. tonight reversed course.
A specialized unit designed to address quality-of-life concerns from street-level drug dealing to nuisance violations, centered on the city’s highest-crime neighborhoods, was deployed on Monday, Rivera said.
Just don’t call it the Tactical Anti-Crime unit, which Rivera disbanded in December 2012 in favor of more manpower in patrol cars. The newly constituted unit has not yet been named, he said.
“We are trying to get a catchy acronym with the name,” Rivera said.
Aside from uniforms, there is really only one major difference between TAC and the new unit, Rivera said.
“The big difference is there was no general order laying out what its responsibilities, duties and tactics were,” Rivera said of TAC.
“There was not the proper direction for that unit.”
Rivera made a presentation detailing the unit to council members during their meeting.
The unit, which was conceived several months ago, goes out on targeted patrols in both marked and unmarked cars specifically in “hot spot” crime areas, Rivera said. The officers will be able to approach and confront people in the neighborhood if they see suspicious activity.