Over a 24 hour period, starting Monday morning with the death of a 14 year-old, there were six people injured in a total of five shootings in Newark.
Newark, once a cultural mecca in New Jersey - and much of the country - has in recent decades faced high crime rates, consistently putting the city ranked highest in the country among crime. Before 2006, a significant amount of that crime was taking place within the governing body of the city when former Mayor Sharpe James, who is now a convicted felon serving a 27-month prison term, used to be in charge. Since then, Mayor Cory Booker has taken crime and pubic safety head-on, though still faces significant challenges such as those 24 hours demonstrate. As reported by NJ.com, Mayor Booker said, "We're seeing still some progress but the last week or two has shown us that we still have a long way to go"
Several of the victims on Monday were innocent bystandars, such as one 62 year-old resident who was shot in the hip by a gang related drive-by as she was taking out the trash in front of her apartment.
Clearly there is no simple solution to this problem. It is obvious, more than ever, however, that intelligent and forward thinking policy and culture change are needed to ensure that our communities are safe and that no resident need worry about their safety when taking out their trash.
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