Ms. Sheila Coley
Last night I had the pleasure of meeting history! Ms. Sheila Coley is the first African American police chief of Newark, NJ. She held a small town meeting in Newark to address some of the issues concerning its residents.
Read highlights from the meeting below!
On putting a stop to sagging pants
“There is nothing on the books here in Newark, but I know they passed ordinances in other places. Like in Ohio and I think maybe Pennsylvania…. have ordinances that are equivalent to a city council pass prohibiting that.”
On car hijackings
“The best thing is to always be alert and aware of your surroundings. We have the cell phones now which is a great convenience, but you got to understand when you are driving and on your cell phone, you are distracted and next thing you know, you have someone knocking on your window. If you were not on the cell phone then you may have taken that second or maybe third look around you, and you could actually see that somebody was walking up on you, then you can pull off…..so the best answer is that you have to always be aware. We know as individuals where the hot spots are, areas that we probably should avoid after dark. I am no different than anybody else in this room, so we have to always be aware; always keep your doors locked, keep your music at a reasonable level so that you can hear what is going on outside around you.”
On those living amongst violence
“When things happen in our neighborhood, we get mad for the moment…….we want to protest, we want to call everybody, we want to write letters. Two weeks go by, nothing is happening, then we’re not as angry or concerned anymore. You have to be aware of your neighborhood at all times. Not just when it’s good, because something happened to make it good, and you want it to be done on a continuous basis. I know we always say “random shootings” but from a law enforcement stand point, when we start connecting dots, it’s not as “random” as the average citizen may think. Unfortunately …..we can’t tell you everything that we know or even everything that we think, because then it may jeopardize us actually bringing that person into custody.”
On police response time
“We had a policy in place, that for our higher codes, we had 3 minutes from the time the call came in, until the time someone had to respond. We kind of got away from that and we just started focusing on the violence, because the level of violence was so high. So unfortunately property crimes got pushed on the back burner. But since I have been in office, I’ve been telling them that, while we have to contain the violent crimes, we have to focus on the property crimes as well. We have to go back to being able to walk and chew gum at the same time. We just can’t put our focus on one thing. We hope to get back to that policy, to get our officers to respond in a timely matter.”
On disruptive and potentially dangerous people in neighborhoods
“We have a hierarchy calling system….. so the more information that you give, the better it is for us and the quicker your response time. And in addition to that, you need to start thinking about organizing block watch groups, because then we have trained you, we know you know what to say. Then when you call, you’re going to say this is block watch group two thirty four, then we know you’re not calling to try and get us to come over here and get off (another block) so they can shoot that up. So, we know it’s a valid call, and you’re going to get a quicker response.”
On removing people standing on the corner
“There really is no law for people standing out on the corner. So we have to see them doing something in addition to them just standing out on the corner, or someone has to call us and tell us, to give us something from a legal stand point than them just standing on the corner.
On the city curfew
“It is in effect, we actually changed it. It was ten pm, it’s now eleven pm, and that was due to residence writing letters, calling complaining because their kids work and couldn’t be in the house by ten pm, and they were tired of paying summonses. But if you see kids out after eleven, they’re not with an adult, they have no clear purpose, and they are just hanging out, call it in.”
On ensuring neighborhood safety
“We do not have enough cops to put a cop on every block, so that is when you the citizens come into play. There is a reason why the criminal element comes to a particular block, particular area, and no matter what we do they continue to come back. There is something in that neighborhood that makes it inviting to them, because if you make it uncomfortable, they will leave. That’s the part we have to come together and figure out. And that is when you got to be honest, because you can’t want your neighborhood cleaned up, and still want to protect the people tha dabble in criminal activity.”
On the benefits of a block watch group
“All the blocks with block watch groups, when you go through them, the streets are clean, the houses are kept nice and neat in front, and all of that speaks to the criminal element that the people on this block care about where they live. And if I stay here too long, they are probably going to call the police.”
On changes to make Newark safer
“I want the people involves. In order to make Newark safe, it is going to have to come from the people that are in this room. And we will always be here as a support team. Because you have to go on that block every night, you have to leave it every day. And if you’re closing your blinds and pulling your shades, you don’t know what’s going on outside your house. Become aware of who belongs on this block, who doesn’t belong on this block. And if you don’t know if they belong there, we certainly don’t know if they belong there. So that’s my message, that’s my goal, and I’m going to preach it, today, tomorrow, and until I retire.”
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Yesterday, I posted a walk that I will be apart of on October 16th, 2011 that supports Breast Cancer. And after that walk I will be heading to a walk that supports another great cause, and that cause is autism.*Autism is a general term used to describe a group of complex developmental brain disorders known as Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) . *An estimated 1.5 million individuals in the U.S. and tens of millions worldwide are affected by autism. And yet doctors have no idea as to what causes autism, they have opinions and possible causes but no legitimate causes. So by supporting this walk you are pushing the research done to find a solution and cause for autism. I am participating in the walk that takes place in Cranford,NJ and here are the details of the walk:
