Blood Will Continue to Flow in the Streets

11/19/2006 HR

Dear Editor:

As president of the Hoboken Police Department's PBA, I am compelled, to inform Hoboken's community of a serious increase of violent crime plaguing our City.

Throughout the year, I have spoken at council meetings and sent dozens of letters to our elected officials, all of which have gone unanswered, warning that increased violence in our neighboring cities will eventually spill over and like a virus infect our community. Even after the February murder of Ismar Mineros, an 18 year old resident, gunned down in our City, again I called for the hiring of more police officers. My pleas were dismissed and unanswered.

Again, at a May 2006 City Council meeting I stood up, voicing my strong opposition to their proposed amendment to the police department table of organizations which included cutting the number of police` officers (non-supervisors) required to patrol our streets form 127 to 120. (Staffing numbers of which have not been achieved since Mayor Roberts took office nearly six year ago.) However, the Mayor and City Council once again chose to ignore this public safety crisis and unanimously voted to cut police officers instead of hiring them. Oddly enough, in response to the February 17 murder of Ismar Mineros, Mayor Roberts and a few city council members responded politically; vowing help while emphasizing the need for increased police presence, community action and so on. This familiar old hat bravado by the Mayor and his council allies has become the norm and the limit of their commitment and problem solving abilities -regarding public safety and policing.

The Mayor simply refuses to accept the fact that he must hire more police officers. Even when presented with undisputable evidence that the police force has been and continues to be understaffed by nearly two dozen patrol officers both before the Mineros murder and now even after the recent shooting execution of Ronald Dixon on Nov. 10 he still chooses to do nothing.

Mayor Roberts and his Council minions raise public safety naivete to a new art form. They will consistently assert, like broken records "Hoboken is Safe" and "Statistical Crime rate is down" as the bullets, blades and brutal assaults continue to snuff and mutilate lives, traumatize and shatter the hearts of loved ones, family and friends of Hoboken's crime victims.

In 2005 Hoboken police struggled to respond to the 51,169 documented service calls and the demand continue to increase as our community continues to grow and crime surges.

The next time a resident or visitor of our City is murdered or victimized, I suggest that Mayor Roberts and Public Safety Committee Chairman, Councilman Camarano personally meet with the mothers and fathers, spouses, family and friends of the victims and offer their condolences and comfort them by mentioning that crime is down and there is no need for more police officers. They won't listen to me. So I urge the citizens of Hoboken to help your police force by contacting the Mayor and your council representatives and insist that police vacancies are filled.

Respectfully yours,
Vince Lombardi, President
Hoboken Policemen's Benevolent Association