After police shakeup, Irvington sees decline in violent crime

The city has gone the first three months of the year without a homicide for just the second time in three decades

Irvington officials are touting a more than three-month stretch without a homicide and other reductions in violent crime after reorganizing the city's public safety operations. (File photo)

IRVINGTON -- The year is still young, but local officials are celebrating a nearly unprecedented era of peace in a city that has traditionally been one of the state's most notorious centers of violence.

For the first time since 2008 and just the second time in the last 31 years, Irvington failed to record a homicide during the first three months of the year -- a statistic Mayor Tony Vauss said reflects a wider drop in overall violent crime. The city totaled 14 homicides during all of 2015.

While murders often make headlines, police are also on pace for significant drops in assaults, robberies, thefts and auto thefts, giving officials hope they might prove more than a winter fluke.

"Everybody's excited and happy about the direction we're going in," said Mayor Tony Vauss.

Public Safety Director Tracy Bowers -- who took over the department after longtime Chief Michael Chase was ousted earlier this year -- credited the drops largely to work by newly formed, specialized units such as an Intelligence Unit and the 8-member TACIT (Threat Assessment Criminal Intelligence) team.

"Those guys they don't have regular jobs that are in the queue. They respond to the concerns right away," he said. "It's just a whole program that's going on with people buying into the new leadership and trying to get crime down."

3 arrested on drug charges in Irvington undercover operation

The city has also made a number of arrests targeting the city's violent drug gangs, taking not just criminals but guns and drugs off the streets, according to Bowers.

Vauss said the city's recent move to combine the city's police, fire and emergency management departments into a single public safety operation has also been key in streamlining police operations by turning them over to Bowers.

Prior to the change, Bowers set policy as part of his role as police director, while Chase was responsible for allocating resources and other day-to-day decisions. Chase, a 40-year veteran who had been chief since 2002, has filed a lawsuit over his termination.

"I think the reorganization changing to public safety department definitely helps us maneuver our people and our resources a lot better on the ground," Vauss said.

Promising signs early in the year, however, do not always translate to long-term success combating violence.

Last year, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka trumpeted a 40 percent decline in homicides and other crimes during his State of the City speech in April, only to see a bloody summer drive them well above 2014 levels.

Vauss said he recognized that sustaining safety on Irvington's streets would take a longer, more coordinated efforts from both police and citizens, but felt this year's early returns indicated things were trending in the right direction.

"Crime will no longer be tolerated in this community," he said. "That's the message we've been saying from the beginning and we're now starting to see results."