Miracle in Newark: not a bullet was fired in 2020 by the police in the largest city of NJ, neighboring the violent New York | The State

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While gun violence doubled in NYC last year, in neighboring Newark, the most populous city in New Jersey, the police did not fire a single bullet.

City officials attribute the positive statistic to continued training for the Police Department in a challenging year.

“This is positive proof that our de-escalation training is highly effective. Our officers have embraced it and are actively employing this resource when engaging with the community, ”Anthony Ambrose, Newark’s director of public safety, said in a statement.

Newark Police began training in 2018. The department defines its de-escalation tactics as “verbal and non-verbal actions used by members, when secure and without compromising law enforcement objectives, to minimize the likelihood of the need to use force during an incident and increase the probability of voluntary compliance ”.

He more community-centered approach started earlier, in 2016, as part of a blanket settlement after a Justice Department investigation found that officers routinely used excessive force and made street stops that disproportionately affected minorities, following many accusations from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) since 2010.

Minutes after the start of 2021, however, the department’s record ended when Newark police shot and killed a 39-year-old man, according to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.

But the priority of not shooting remains. Newark officers also recovered 496 illegal firearms in 2020 and made 339 arrests, a 7% increase over those totals in 2019, he noted. Fox News.