Welcome to Politics Bites, where every afternoon at It's A Free Country, we bring you the unmissable quotes from the morning's political conversations on WNYC. Today on the Brian Lehrer Show, Newark mayor Cory Booker talks about this weekend's Newark Peace Education Summit and other news, including the just-announced DOJ investigation of the police department.
Booker says DOJ Probe is "a good thing."
Newark has been plagued by crime and the police department has been plagued by controversy. When the New Jersey ACLU called for federal monitoring of the department in September, Mayor Cory Booker was upset. But when the DOJ announced an investigation into the department on Monday, Booker seemed happy. The mayor even took partial credit for the investigation, saying that he had reached out to the DOJ for help in reforming Newark's policing practices after the ACLU's criticism.
When the ACLU cast such a negative light on our police department we really had to find a way to improve the things that we admit need to be improved, but also also to bring a much better light on our department.
Fewer cops doesn't have to mean more crime (but it has).
Newark has seen better days. After being forced to cut 13 percent of the police force because of budget constraints, the city has seen a steep rise in murder (up 54 percent), car theft (up 43 percent), robbery (17 percent). Yet Booker is optimistic, he's hopeful new strategies will actually achieve a decrease in crime this summer.
When you lose 163 officers like we did it's a blow to the department. But in terms of officers on patrol what we've been doing is pulling people out of desk jobs, pulling high ranking leadership and pushing everybody on the streets. So what residents will see is actually more officers on the streets.
Police Pensions: What can the public afford?
New Jersey's police departments were all forced to make layoffs when the police unions and state and local leaders were unable to reach a compromise on pension and health benefits. The Mayor doesn't put himself in Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's camp of "eviscerating" public unions, but he does say something's got to give.
What can we as the public afford? To raise taxes higher and higher on middle class, working class and poor families to afford salaries that are way out of whack with the general public is not a sustainable model. If you look at the actuary tables on health care and pensions you have a state of New Jersey that is going to fall of a cliff. This is not ideology this is math.