Newark Public Safety Collaborative emphasizes community-centered policing initiative

Last month, the Newark Public Safety Collaborative (NPSC) announced that it would be working with the city’s leadership to lower instances of crime in the area.

The NPSC, which was created by professors at the Rutgers—Newark School of Criminal Justice in 2018, looks at crime-related statistics based on geography, according to a video from New Jersey Spotlight News.

With this data, the Collaborative has been able to determine which locations are likely to see higher rates of crime and where installing additional lighting would be beneficial as a preventive measure.

Other solutions supported by the initiative focus specifically on bodegas, such as having law enforcement work with shop owners and encouraging them to install security cameras.

By working with community leaders, the NPSC’s goal is to shift the focus of law enforcement procedures from the police’s perspective to one which also integrates the viewpoints of local groups and governing institutions, according to the Collaborative’s website. 

"By understanding what spaces are connected to crime, what we can do is start having a conversation. That's where the community comes in," said Alejandro Gimenez-Santana, director of the Newark Public Safety Collaborative.

The Collaborative’s community-centric approach has since been adopted by other jurisdictions in the U.S., according to an article published by Rutgers—Newark. It also received a multimillion-dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to further its efforts last month.

The grant will be used to support various community groups in Newark using the NPSC's data for public safety and planning efforts, according to the article.

"We put the focus of prevention on places and not merely people and open the door to non-police centric responses," Gimenez-Santana said. "We’re advocating that instead of arresting your way out of the problem, you identify the problem. So those areas become safer."