16 September 2008

Muggings in Newark

The Review today has a great cover story on muggings and crime in Newark. (The cover places locations of muggings in the last month on a Newark map - it is scary. Sadly, I couldn't find the image on the Review's web site.)

The article (plus support articles and editorial) covers the brutal crimes (six armed robberies in the immediate campus vicinity within a month), and quotes Newark PD and University DPS officials. To summarize their thoughts.

Newark PD: "This is normal, the crime is no higher than any other year. There is nothing we can do about it."

University DPS: "Students shouldn't walk alone at night. Students shouldn't drink. Stay home at night and you'll be safe."

Ummm, no. Sorry. Newark is a small city. Newark ABSOLUTELY should be safe. I should be able to walk around at night (or go running) on major streets and not worry about muggings. I should be able to work late at the university and walk to my car without worrying about getting mugged. Students should be able to go to the bars and walk home without having a gun thrust in their faces. Sadly, that world is not the world of Newark in 2008.

And what are the Newark Police doing about the crime in Newark?


Patrolling Main Street in the middle of the day in unmarked cars. Yep, they're trying really hard to do something about the muggings.

1 comment:

Lucy said...

It was so strange for me to read about a situation such as mine that happened on an entirely different country let alone campus. I am a student from Rhodes University in Johannesburg, South Africa and I was recently mugged in the drama department. It is so terrible that we have to live in fear... and for so long I thought it was a problem unique to South Africa. I see now that all the world has its imperfections. I hope that by some miracle things will start to improve. It is at a devastating time in our lives when such a high crime rate is considered to be normal. You can read about my experience on my blog: 4burstbubbles.blogspot.com under the article "The Crime of Caring."