Almost year into Paterson’s police reforms, new year-end reporting indicates that murders, shootings, sexual violence and aggravated assaults were all down compared to 2022 levels.
Shootings were at their lowest level in a decade, according to the preliminary data released by the police department, dropping by 25%, and the number of murders in 2023 dropped by a third, from 28 in 2022 to 17 in 2023.
The release of the data comes 10 months after the state Attorney General’s office took control of the city’s police department, citing a “crisis of confidence” in the city toward law enforcement. Isa Abbassi, a senior New York Police Department official, was named to lead the department.
“The job’s not done here, right,” said Abbassi in an interview with NJ Spotlight News. “We’re not declaring mission complete. There’s so much more to do. Crime statistics are great, and our crime statistics are exceptional, but there is so much more to do around constitutional policing, community engagement, and maintaining a level of safety here in the city.”
Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh said: “This is a win for the city of Paterson, but it started way back when we got reelected by a resounding margin. When we said we would pursue non-policing strategies to reduce crime in Paterson, whether through re-entry, whether through financial empowerment, whether through the guaranteed income, or assisting people who are struggling with opioid use disorder. So we were going to have the same conversation irrespective of a state takeover, because there were items we were implementing that just took time to bake.”
