Easing Violence, Building Trust Go Hand-In-Hand In Newark: Report

NEWARK, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of Equal Justice USA. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.

Mayor Ras Baraka and representatives from Equal Justice USA (EJUSA) and the Newark Community Street Team (NCST) recently released a new report detailing the impact of Newark's community-based approach to building safety and healing trauma.

The report, “The Future of Public Safety: Exploring the Power and Possibility of Newark’s Reimagined Public Safety Ecosystem,” details qualitative and quantitative data over the course of the past decade and documents the way that the Newark community has engaged with public safety and used its power through activism to break cycles of violence and trauma. “The Future of Public Safety” highlights the need for, the possibility to create, and the successes of a public safety ecosystem centered on community needs.

"The horrific instances of violence over the past few weeks have underscored the need for a public health approach to violence," said Jamila Hodge, executive director of EJUSA. "The city of Newark embraced that perspective years ago, and its community is deeply invested in innovative approaches that turn away from more arrests, prosecutions, and prisons and toward healing to build safety. ‘The Future of Public Safety’ documents that journey."

Newark has been on the frontlines of a movement that recognizes police cannot be the sole point of contact for public safety. Inspired by the vision of Mayor Baraka and his emphasis on trauma and healing, community leaders have been collaborating with police and government to build an ecosystem that not only reduces violence but also builds trusting communities. ‘The Future of Public Safety’ report, through the findings and first-hand accounts, captures how community organizers and elected officials created a roadmap for other cities to build this ecosystem themselves.

Successes championed by authors of the report and other reformers include:

• In 2021, Mayor Baraka, supported by local leaders, shifted 5% in funding from the traditional law enforcement budget to community-led violence prevention initiatives.
• The introduction of “Trauma to Trust,” a multi-session training program and approach that brings community members and law enforcement officials together to foster empathy and mutual understanding of trauma through conversations about race, trauma, violence, and social and economic inequity.
• Recorded homicides have decreased by more than 50% since 1990. This trend accelerated in the mid 2010s: In 2019, for instance, the city recorded 51 fatalities, down from 94 in 2016 and 72 in 2017.
• Over the past six years, Newark has experienced a dramatic decline in most forms of serious crime and violence. In 2020, there were no police-involved shootings in Newark and no use of a baton. Newark, like many cities, has seen a recent uptick in violent crime, but that rise has been lower than in many other places.
• Since 2018, there has been a decrease in the number of complaints received and hearings opened against Newark Police Department officers.

The release of the report was coupled with a multiple-day convening organized by EJUSA, NCST, and the mayor's office. Key themes discussed during the convening were the findings themselves and areas where organizers can focus their efforts going forward. Other leaders who took part in the convening events included Newark Police Chief Lee Douglas, Department of Justice Senior Advisor Eddie Bocanegra, Newark Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery Director Lakeesha Eure, and My Brother’s Keeper-Newark Executive Director Mark Comesañas.

“It is encouraging to see the Newark public safety ecosystem advance and grow stronger day by day,” said Aqeela Sherrills, President and Board Chair of the Newark Community Street Team. “Together, under the leadership of Mayor Baraka, we’ve pulled safety out of the abstract and put it in the hands of the public. Today, Newark neighborhood residents are playing a strategic role in reimagining public safety in their community.”

Since the 1967 Newark Uprising, the Newark community has been collectively building towards public safety solutions that look beyond policing. Previous peace agreements and seeds planted by grassroots leaders decades prior have helped lead up to this moment in which a complex arrangement of interdependent parts is reshaping the landscape for justice and peace. ‘The Future of Public Safety’ looks to document the legacy work of reformers and activists, and provide a roadmap for transformation not just in Newark, but across the country.

The report suggests other cities can create similar outcomes by, among many thriving initiatives, instating offices similar to Newark’s Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery, creating and encouraging regular dialogue and trust-building initiatives between police and residents, and dispatching rapid response teams comprised of violence interventionists and social workers to a scene to identify immediate and long-term community needs. These components, and many others found in Newark, comprise a developing but successful public safety ecosystem that can be replicated in other cities.

Read the full report here.

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