Newark Police Union, Community Groups Clash As Mayor Urges Unity

NEWARK, NJ — Newark’s new approach to reducing violence – treating it as a “public health issue” and emphasizing social outreach alongside policing – has seen acclaim from some big names, including former president Barack Obama. But that doesn’t mean the city’s new approach has come without friction between cops and community activists.

A recent incident involving gunfire in the city’s South Ward underscores the evolving relationship between these two groups – both of whom are critical to the fight against violence in Newark, officials say.

On June 25, police arrested two men and recovered a gun after shots were fired near the William Mobile Ashby Community Care & Training Center, a new public facility that serves as a “shared space” for the community and its first responders.

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Nobody was injured, authorities said. A video posted to social media shows part of the incident, which involved a large crowd and several uniformed officers.

One of the arrestees was Shadee Dukes, a local anti-violence activist who alleges that he was charged with obstruction of justice and resisting arrest after he tried to safeguard some innocent youth at the scene when police ordered that they be detained. However, an unnamed public safety source said Dukes was preventing police officers from doing their jobs while they were trying to investigate a shooting, TAP Into Newark reported (read the full article here).

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Dukes has since been released, and says he doesn’t want people to think there’s a “war between the community and law enforcement” – claiming that the incident was a “big misunderstanding.”

Det. Jeffrey Weber, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 12, issued a statement last week alleging that members of the Newark Office of Violence Prevention Trauma Recovery have repeatedly interfered with police at crime scenes – citing the June 25 incident as an example, NJ.com reported.

The union has been one of the loudest critics of the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, which was launched in 2016 as part of a landmark consent decree between the U.S Justice Department and the city. See Related: NJ Supreme Court Limits Newark’s Power To Probe Police Abuse

Mayor Ras Baraka has since come to the defense of the Office of Violence Prevention Trauma Recovery, saying that the group has done “incredible work,” including “repairing broken relationships with police.”

Baraka released a video message about the situation last week, urging the community to remain united on a common goal: making the city a safer place for residents and police alike.

According to the mayor, the numbers speak for themselves: the city recently saw a 60-year low in violent crime and has seen a 36 percent reduction in murders so far this year.

“We are merging two cultures: traditional policing and social work,” Baraka said. “And while our progress and success expands wider and deeper, there are bound to be growing pains, misunderstandings and conflicts.”

Newark Communities for Accountable Policing – a citizen-led community group that has supported the city’s review board – said its members are calling for police to drop all charges against Dukes, who they say was simply trying to “de-escalate a panic-ridden scene.”

“The police union is trying to drive a false narrative that CVI work is intentionally hostile and obstructionist, when in fact it has been the hostility of the police driven by their union towards that work done and towards any community driven police reform and accountability efforts that probably should be ‘investigated,’” said Zayid Muhammad, lead organizer for NCAP.

“And by investigated we mean continued meaningful research that can be driven by one essential question: Does community-based violence intervention work – and does it work better with law enforcement buy in?’” Muhammad asked.

POLICING IN NEWARK

The concept of treating violence as a “public health issue” is a central part of Newark’s revamped approach to fighting crime in New Jersey’s largest city.

Once known for corruption and racial profiling that led to an infamous federal consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Newark Police Department has seen a wave of change in recent years.

In 2021, the city reallocated 5 percent of its police budget to create the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery, which provides social services to residents in an effort to break the cycle of violence. Read More: Newark Will Take $12M From Police, Reinvest In Social Services

The city also graduated its first class of 10 social workers along with 67 Newark police recruits that year. “We cannot arrest our way out of violence and trauma,” Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery director Lakeesha Eure said, echoing a call that many community activists had been making for decades. Read More: Newark Police Recruits, Social Workers Graduate Side-By-Side

In recent years, police officers in Newark have been undergoing training that aims to remedy past problems and “de-escalate” potentially deadly situations.

Along the way, stories of Newark police officers reaching out to the community and building trust with residents have continued to make news headlines.

Newark police are also collaborating with the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery, the Newark Community Street Team, the Newark Street Academy and other community groups in an attempt to stop the violence before it begins – which has been paying big dividends, some say.

Activists are quick to point out that there is still a lot of work to be done, however.

Other recent clashes between local cops and activists include an incident on the day before Thanksgiving in 2022, when Newark police arrested Sharif Amenhotep, another longtime anti-violence advocate, after a dispute over towing. Read More: Newark Street Vendor Arrest Sparks Outrage In Community, Activists Say

“Like police culture … the only thing they understand is ‘arrest, arrest, arrest’ – they don’t know how to use discretion,” Amenhotep said.

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