ORANGE, NJ — National Night Out in Orange had a darker undertone this year, as it followed a recent instance of multiple shootings and homicides in the city.
Such instances in a short span of time are not unique in Orange. The first one this year occurred Thursday, April 14, when Davon Jones, 17, was shot and killed on Taylor Street and, four days later Jordan Bryan, 23, was fatally shot in the 400 block of Cary Street.
Mayor Dwayne Warren responded to the April shootings by kicking off “Operation Spring Cleaning” on Wednesday, April 20, which he and then-acting police Director John Wade said was a tactical public safety and quality-of-life initiative to proactively combat gun violence and street crime.
Then, a second spate of violence occurred more recently, from Wednesday, July 20, to Tuesday, July 26, punctuated the the announcement Wednesday, July 27, by acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray and acting Orange Township Police Director Todd Warren that the Orange Police Department and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide-Major Crimes Task Force were investigating the fatal shooting of Ahmad Cauthen, 39, of Orange.
Since then, concerned city residents have united with anti-violence organizations, such as the Not Orange movement, to organize protest marches and rallies, including the one Friday, July 29, that began in front of the Orange Police Department’s Polhill Headquarters and ended in a meeting with the mayor and his brother, Todd Warren, now the city’s new acting police director, in City Hall. City Council President Donna K. Williams was at both events and live-streamed a portion of the City Hall meeting on her Facebook page.
At the meeting in City Hall on Friday, July 29, the Warrens promised to focus on implementing suggestions about community policing and heard critiques of the Orange Police Department’s tactics.
Then the two participated in the annual National Night Out Public Safety Motorcade on Tuesday, Aug.9, which also included members of Orange Police and Fire departments, as well as other emergency service providers and first responders, who traveled around Orange from neighborhood to neighborhood in support of the national public safety initiative.
For National Night Out, the mayor and acting police director made stops at neighborhoods throughout Orange, such as Wilson Place, just off of Oakwood Avenue and adjacent to the Orange Housing Authority’s new Walter G. Public Housing Complex, as they have been doing for ever year.
Residents of Wilson Place said they were again happy to have the Warrens visit them Tuesday, Aug. 2, during the annual National Night Out celebration, but wished the circumstances of the yearly meeting could have been better.
“It was nice this time,” said Anita Moore on Tuesday, Aug. 2. “I got my little T-shirt. It was a beautiful thing for the kids.”
Moore said she’s currently working with children daily at Colgate Park Playground as a way for her to give back to the community, and said she loves it. She admits, however, that Orange has changed.
“This is definitely not the Orange that I know,” said Moore. “The Orange I knew, we were able to run around and play. We were able to go back and forth to everybody’s house. We had the Friendship House; we had the Outpost; we had the CYO; we had all of that to go to. These kids don’t have nothing. But it’s so sad though, that these killings are happening. I don’t understand what’s going on with these kids, but something’s got to be done. And I think the people higher up need to come out and really speak to the people and let people know what’s going on in these streets.”
Other event attendees like Darryl Mayfield said national events, such as the recent police-involved shooting deaths of black men in Baton Rouge, La.; Minnesota and Miami and retaliatory targeted killings of police officers in Dallas, Baton Rouge and other places threatened to overshadow National Night Out 2016.
Alison Whittle agreed with Mayfield and said such incidents were emphasized by the recent local shootings, which hit Orange hard, and something needed to change.
“My father was a cop in Orange. He retired. My father was Charles Whittle. He did 25 years in Orange,” said Alison Whittle on Tuesday, Aug. 2, adding that her father would be turning over in his grave if he knew about the multiple shootings, homicides, crime, drugs and apparent gang activity in Orange right now. She said all this killing is crazy and the proof it doesn’t have to be happening in Orange can be found by looking right next door at East Orange, Orange’s “sister city.”
“I live in East Orange, but I bleed for Orange; Orange is still my home,” said Whittle. “They need to do the job. … We have cops in Orange, but they don’t live in Orange and that’s the first problem right there. … That’s not community policing, when you don’t have anybody from the community doing police work in the community that they come from.”
Moore said she’s not sure what the solution to Orange’s current ongoing public safety issues is, but she said something must be done to address them as soon as possible.
“They need to stop the crime,” said Moore. “I don’t know. Maybe they need to be out on corners more, instead of hiding out. But I understand the police might be scared of these people, too, because the people that’s doing it are not afraid of cops. … It’s just sad and I just hope it gets better with time, because I’ve got grandkids I’ve got to raise around here.”
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