Crime Down ‘Significantly’ In Bloomfield, Officials Say

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Things are getting safer in Bloomfield, authorities announced last week.

Bloomfield saw a “significant decrease” in violent and nonviolent crimes during 2019, part of a multi-year trend that shows the Bloomfield Police Department’s enforcement and awareness campaigns are working as intended, officials said.

In the last five years, the number of “Part I” crimes as classified by the FBI have fallen from 1,212 in 2014 to 600 in 2018. Part I crimes include murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft and arson.

• See related article: FBI Releases Crime Stats For Bloomfield

Within that time span, the most dramatic type of crime reduction was the number of robberies, which fell from 72 in 2014 to 10 in 2019, officials said.

Burglaries are also down by more than 70 percent since 2014, and theft and motor vehicle theft are down by about 50 percent.

Over the past four years, the department has also seen a big drop in Internal Affairs complaints, including use of force complaints, which fell from 49 in 2016 to 22 in 2019, officials said.

“A huge reason for the consistent, impressive reduction in crime in town has been our emphasis on community policing, so residents associate our police officers with joyous celebrations, as well as when they deal with officers during tense emergencies,” Bloomfield Mayor Michael Venezia said.

• See related article: Bloomfield First Responders Mingle At Local Block Parties
• See related article: Bloomfield Santa, Cops Bring Sick Child 'Sold Out' Toy (VIDEO)

Venezia credited Director of Public Safety Samuel DeMaio, who formerly served as police director in Newark, with leading the turnaround in local crime-fighting stats.

“Bringing Director DeMaio on is one of my proudest achievements as mayor,” Venezia said.

After he took over his new post in Bloomfield, DeMaio rolled out changes such as strategically assigning officer shifts during the evening hours, meeting daily with police commanders, and utilizing crime analysis, crime mapping and predictive policing.

The results speak for themselves, DeMaio commented.

“In the last five years, we brought the number of part I crimes down from 1,212 to 600,” DeMaio said. “That’s 612 fewer victims of crime, which we were able to achieve by reinforcing the culture of public service and respect for the communities we serve.”

“We’ve accomplished this by reconstituting the Police Department with a greater emphasis on working with the community and promoting positive police-citizen encounters through public forums, roll calls, and involvement with public school students and their parents,” DeMaio said.

“From 2016 to 2019 we had more than a 50 percent reduction in citizen internal affairs complaints filed against the department,” DeMaio added. “Our officers understand that their priority is public service, and anyone found to have broken the public’s trust will be punished.”

• See related article: Man Settles For $1.6M After Bloomfield Police Beat Him On Parkway
• See related article: Bloomfield PD Earns Accreditation From NJ Chiefs Of Police

Keep updated with local public safety alerts at the Patch Bloomfield Facebook page. Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com