Nutley Safety Officials Bash NJ Bail Reform, Revive Neighborhood Watch

NUTLEY, NJ — Nutley is reviving its neighborhood watch program, town officials recently announced at a public meeting – while also taking a few shots at statewide bail reform in the process.

Earlier this month, representatives of the Nutley Police Department led a meeting at the Nutley courthouse, unveiling their plans to reinstate the town’s neighborhood watch program.

First rolled out in the 1970s, the new version of the neighborhood watch will rely heavily on local residents, who will work with police department personnel to determine what areas and zones of town that need to be closely monitored.

According to a statement from the township, here’s how it will work:

“A group of residents in each area will be formed and a team/block captain will be assigned to oversee. The team/block captain will maintain an active list of residents and members within their zone. This information will be shared with the Nutley Police Department liaison. Crime activity and information will be disseminated through block captains and the department’s neighborhood watch email.”

Dozens of residents have already signed up for the program, authorities say. To fill out an electronic application, visit bit.ly/NutleyWatch. Questions can be directed to Nutley Public Safety Director Commissioner Alphonse Petracco’s office at 973-284-4929.

“I’m encouraged to see so many new faces,” Police Chief Thomas Strumolo told attendees at the meeting.

“We have a great police department and we are very proactive, but we can’t do it without your help,” Strumolo continued. “We have one of the safest communities in the area, and this program will help us keep it that way.”

CRIME RATES IN NUTLEY

Recent FBI statistics show that Nutley saw a slight increase in property crimes in 2022 (a total of 223) from levels seen in 2019 (164 reported crimes) and 2020 (170 reported crimes).

However, the town’s property crime rate is way down from levels seen in the 1980s and 1990s, which included a high of 862 crimes in 1990.

The violent crime rate in Nutley has also steadily shrunk since the 1990s.

There were 21 violent crimes reported by the Nutley Police Department in 2022 – similar to pre-pandemic levels (21 crimes in 2020, and 28 crimes in 2019). Nutley's violent crime rate has also shrunk over the past three decades, with a high of 85 crimes reported in 1991.

The township isn't too far away from its 2014-level, when Nutley saw a low of 15 violent crimes. Read More: Violent Crime Rate In Belleville, Nutley Has Dropped Over Past Decades

BAIL REFORM IN NEW JERSEY

Although Nutley has seen steadily declining crime rates over the past few decades, New Jersey’s recent bail reform efforts continue to find opponents in the township.

In 2014, New Jersey voters approved a constitutional amendment that paved the way for a massive overhaul of the state’s bail system. The rules that rolled out in 2017 effectively eliminated cash bail for people accused of crimes – a major change that many civil rights advocates cheered.

Under the old system, large numbers of people accused of low-level offenses were kept in jail for months – and sometimes for years – because they couldn’t afford to pay bail. Meanwhile, potentially dangerous defendants were able to secure their release as long as they had the cash, another loophole that was closed under the state’s bail reform efforts, according to NJcourts.gov.

Now, judges are instructed to use an “objective” risk-assessment tool to decide whether to detain people who pose a “serious risk of flight” or a “danger to the public.” Judges consider factors such as the defendant’s age at the time of arrest, pending charges, prior convictions, prior failures to appear in court and previous jail sentences.

Supporters of bail reform have put forth a simple argument in its favor: it works.

“People are showing up in court at higher rates than ever before,” the ACLU of New Jersey wrote in an email last year. “The rate of people being released who then commit serious violent crimes remains low, around one percent. New Jersey achieved all this while the pretrial jail population – the number of people presumed innocent kept from their jobs, their families, and their communities – has dropped.”

• See Related: NJ Needs To Invest In People – Not Lock Them Up, Advocates Say
• See Related: Blizzard Of 'Tough On Crime' Bills In NJ Is Bad News, Critics Charge

But critics of bail reform in the Garden State say that violent and repeat offenders are being put back onto the streets – and that many police officers are growing more frustrated by the day.

“We hear from members of law enforcement and angered citizens nearly every day that bail reform simply isn’t working,” New Jersey Sen. Kristin Corrado (NJ-40) said last October, alleging that “criminals are often let off the hook with nothing more than a slap on the wrist.”

In Essex County, public safety officials who have recently bashed bail reform include Fairfield Police Chief Anthony Manna.

“It is hard enough these days to keep the morale of our officers high without the effects of a revolving door criminal justice system,” Manna recently commented.

After a daytime shooting caused a lockdown at schools in East Orange last November, the city’s mayor said that local police have been “working relentlessly” to get guns out of the wrong hands, but “bail reform is allowing illegal gun holders to escape justice over and over again.”

That feeling is shared by some law enforcement officials in Nutley.

“The rules have changed in our country, and especially in our state,” Petracco said at this month’s neighborhood watch meeting.

“We lock them up and they are out of jail before the police are done with their paperwork,” the commissioner said. “That is what we’re up against – that is why we are bringing back the neighborhood watch.”

“We are going to keep the pressure on in every possible way so that these actors will not look to come to Nutley,” Petracco insisted.

“Unfortunately, we live in a funny time where the good guys are being handcuffed instead of the bad guys,” he continued. “And sometimes it can be very frustrating for law enforcement professionals to do the job they were sworn in to do.”

Petracco, Strumolo and Deputy Chief of Police Gerard Green commented on bail reform in a video released in October 2023. Watch it below.

• See Related: Council Accuses NJ Town Of Publicity Stunt In Bail Reform Battle
• See Related: Bring Back Bail For Car Thieves, NJ Republican Lawmakers Say

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