East Orange mayor-elect says public safety will be his top priority

EAST ORANGE, NJ — East Orange Mayor-elect Ted Green hosted a press conference at the 3rd Ward Community Information Center on Thursday, Nov. 9, to announce the formation of his official transition team and to discuss his incoming administration’s plans and priorities after he is sworn into office Monday, Jan. 1.

“When we were campaigning, we had an opportunity to really walk throughout the city and, when we did a couple of surveys in the city, public safety was the No. 1 priority,” said Green on Thursday, Nov. 9. “People just felt like it was a sense that our police presence kind of went down. They felt that there was some crime increasing in the city of East Orange, which it has. It increased over 2 percent here, so public safety is going to be the No. 1 priority, because what drives any city when people want to invest in here, move in here and raise their families is public safety.”

Green said people want to feel safe and, based on the community surveys his campaign conducted and the feedback they have received, this is currently not the case.

“People want to know, when their kids go to school, that they’re going to school safe and they’re getting back home safe,” said Green. “People want to know, when they leave to go to work, that they get back home safe. So public safety is the No. 1 thing that we have to address. What makes that important also, in terms of the transition team involving themselves, is in terms of laying out my public safety blueprint. Once I look at that and understand clearly what we have to do, that’s what we’re going to drive this city toward.”

The N.J. State Police publishes the annual Uniform Crime Report based on data submitted by police departments from every municipality in the state. According to the latest numbers available on the N.J. State Police website, East Orange has recorded significant increases in assault, from 17 reported cases in October 2016 to 24 in 2017; increases in burglary, from 11 cases in 2016 to 16 in 2017; increases in larceny-theft, from 41 cases in 2016 to 46 in 2017; with an overall increase in the city’s Crime Index, from 112 to 118; and more violent crime, from 33 cases to 39.

According to the state police website, nonviolent crime in East Orange remains stable, with 79 cases from October 2016 to October 2017; motor vehicle theft decreased, from 26 cases to 15; simple assault decreased, from 95 cases to 65; robbery decreased, from 14 cases to 12; rape increased, from 2 cases to 3; and homicides stayed the same. There have been at least three homicides in the city this year, however, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.

The latest homicide occurred Saturday, Nov. 11, according to acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino and East Orange Public Safety Director Sheilah Coley, who announced that authorities had identified the body found in East Orange that day as Kpama Silver, 25, of Newark. Silver was shot and his “body was found in the area of North 15th Street and 4th Avenue. Authorities are investigating whether he was shot at that location or elsewhere,” according to a press release from Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thomas S. Fennelly of the Prosecutor’s Homicide Unit on Saturday, Nov. 11.

The Silver homicide is being investigated by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Major Crimes Task Force and the East Orange Police Department. “The investigation is active and ongoing at this time,” said Fennelly.

Prior to Silver, East Orange experienced a double homicide on Friday, June 9, when Dyshawn L. Simpkins, 19, of Newark, and Keeayre Griffin, 29, of Newark, were shot and killed in the 100 block of Hollywood Street. At the time, acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray and Coley announced that authorities were investigating the incident in which three people were shot early that morning.

“Two of the victims have died as a result of the shootings,” said Fennelly on Friday, June 9. “Shortly after midnight, East Orange police officers responded to the 100 block of Hollywood Street on reports of a shooting. Responding officers located an unresponsive male inside a vehicle. This male was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:25 a.m.”

Fennelly said Simpkins was the victim pronounced dead at the scene on Friday, June 9. Griffin was transported to East Orange General Hospital by emergency responders, where he later died.

“A second male was transported to East Orange General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:27 a.m,” said Fennelly. “This victim has been identified as Keeayre Griffin, age 29, of Newark. A third male, whose identity is being withheld for security reasons, suffered a non-fatal gunshot wound and is being treated at an area hospital.”

The triple shooting and double homicide are being investigated by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office’s Major Crimes Task Force and the East Orange Police Department. The investigation is active and ongoing at this time, according to Fennelly.

Simpkins death, in particular, hit very close to home with Green and others in East Orange, because his mother is Irvington Neighborhood Improvement Corporation Director Deborah Simpkins, who he works with in Mayor Tony Vauss’ administration. It also led to an anti-gun and anti-violence rally in East Orange on Saturday, Aug. 12, organized by 4th Ward Councilman Casim Gomez and Essex County Freeholder Lebby Jones and attended by the Rev. Al Sharpton along with other East Orange and Irvington National Action Network members.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker is serving as the honorary chairman of Green’s transition team. Bo Kemp of the Faegre BD-Consulting firm serves as the team’s executive director and veteran publicist Tracy Munford is serving as the team’s chairwoman. Green has tasked them with crafting the public safety agenda for his incoming administration.

“I look forward to working with everyone,” said Green. “As I said during the campaign, we are one city, one community. We’re about building bridges, not tearing bridges down, so let’s be the bridge-builders and let’s move East Orange forward.”

  Mayor Ted Green