Newark Will Take $12M From Police, Reinvest In Social Services

NEWARK, NJ — It may not be the police department “abolishment” that some advocates are calling for, but according to others, it’s a big step forward for Newark’s fight for social justice.

On Wednesday, city officials announced that Newark will use almost $12 million to create a new “Office of Violence Prevention.” The city will re-channel about 5 percent of its policing budget to pay for it.

Shortly after the City Council approved an ordinance that will divert the funds for the new office, Mayor Ras Baraka signed the legislation during a news conference on the steps of Newark Police Division’s 1st Precinct.

The venue of the announcement wasn’t chosen lightly. The precinct was a key site of the rioting – which many have since relabeled as a “rebellion” – that forever changed the city in 1967.

Wednesday’s ordinance calls for the precinct to be closed by Dec. 31, 2021, and transformed into a museum chronicling local activism in Newark and “positive police changes.” In addition to housing the new Office of Violence Prevention and serving as the headquarters for the city’s Anti-Violence Initiative, the new complex will also support a trauma center for health recovery and healing and workforce development agencies, making it a go-to community resource for those in need of a helping hand.

There will be at least one police officer assigned at the building, as well, Baraka said.

Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said there won’t be any layoffs as a result of the new ordinance, and that there are no plans to interfere with staffing levels.

Ambrose said he expects that “attrition plus hiring” among staff will help the department cope with the loss of funding. In addition, about 25 percent of the calls that local police get are for “social intervention,” he added.

“So when this is running, there will be less calls for service,” Ambrose said.

The creation of the new office comes after weeks of local protest and calls for police reform in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

• See related article: 5 Inspiring Glimpses Into Newark's Peaceful George Floyd Protest

“It is symbolic that this building will now become a place of healing,” Baraka said. “It will be a representation of the progress we have made as a peaceful community, and the positive advances made by our police division to suppress crime by being engaged with the community, not alienated from it.”

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While Wednesday’s ordinance is a big boost for the city, it’s hardly the first time that Newark’s police apparatus has been repurposed to serve the community, Baraka said.

For example, the Newark Public Safety Department put social workers on its payroll long before Floyd’s death, he pointed out. And efforts such as the department’s Hope One – a mobile police vehicle that offers social services and does outreach to local homeless residents – have been taking place for years.

That’s not to say Floyd’s death hasn’t galvanized the community and put plans that had been lingering on the back burner into the spotlight again, Baraka said.

Hence the signing of Wednesday’s ordinance, he said.

Larry Hamm, a longtime community activist and 2020 U.S. Senate candidate, gave an enthusiastic endorsement to the new office during Wednesday’s news conference, which was held in his old neighborhood.

“I support Mayor Baraka’s efforts and his ordinance to reallocate funds for social development,” said Hamm, who helped local advocacy group People’s Organization for Progress to spearhead a massive protest against police brutality in Newark on May 30.

• See related article: They Helped Lead Newark's George Floyd Protest; What's Next?

However, other community members and advocates have called for more drastic action to be taken when it comes to reforming Newark’s police force.

Earlier this month, the Newark Water Coalition, which has also been a critic of the city’s response to its lead water crisis, spearheaded a “mutual aid march” to honor lives lost to police brutality and give out water, fresh vegetables and baby supplies to the neighborhood.

Organizers demanded the “dismantling of the school to prison pipeline,” and asked the City of Newark to “defund their police department” and move the money to community programs.

“Defund the police to abolish them!” the group wrote in a social media post promoting the June 12 rally, which was reportedly disrupted and “met with aggression.”

Madelyn Hoffman, the New Jersey Green Party's candidate for U.S. Senate in 2020, said she tried to attend the march on June 12, but arrived after it had already been cut short.

“The city's largest budget item, by far, is for the police,” Hoffman charged. “I support the Newark Water Coalition's call to defund the police and to take the money saved and use it to create stronger and healthier communities.”

• See related article: OP-ED: What Is Happening To Democracy In Newark?

While he’s been supportive of local action to prevent police brutality, Baraka hasn’t taken up activists’ calls to abolish the Newark Police Department.

“I think it’s kind of a knee-jerk reaction,” the mayor told Politico.com earlier this month, adding that the call to get rid of police departments is a “bourgeois liberal” solution for tackling systemic problems that go far beyond city police departments.

The Newark Water Coalition apparently offered a reply to Baraka’s statement on Twitter.

“We get called bourgeoise liberals by petite bourgeoise who don’t seem to grasp the reality that white supremacist capitalism has us all oppressed … And until we question, dismantle and build together we are participating in our own oppression.”

• See related article: Black-Owned Newark Investment Firm Sues NJ, Alleges Racial Bias

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