A Bloomfield man reported that he was jumped on a Montclair street for no apparent reason. Montclair Police received the report on June 18, four days after the incident.
The victim told police he was leaving a building on Greenwood Avenue on Sunday, June 14, around 1 a.m. When he reached the street, he alleges three men came out of nowhere and jumped him, flattened him on the ground, and kicked him repeatedly.
The three thugs then ran off; the victim reportedly heard them get in a car and drive away.
Police say the victim could not identify his attackers, doesn’t know why he was beaten up, and that nothing was reported stolen.
“The victim stated he was unable to report this incident at the time, due to his injuries,” says Lt. James Carlucci. No weapons were involved.
Hopefully he didn’t run to the empty “police station” in Lackawanna Plaza looking for help.
Seriously. They should take down those signs.
Its about time we start raising the rent on Glenwood, Elm, New St, Maple, Mission, Pine… hmm, that’s good for now.
Put up some signs saying “Attention thug kids: If the violence continues, we are going to raise the cost of living in your area, and your parents have nobody but you to blame”
“…flattened him on the ground, and kicked him repeatedly.” – This is the sort of sentence that high school English teachers and advisors to the student newspaper can’t resist jumping on for its bad phrasing.
And the item cries out for clarification. Was the alleged victim even physically unable to file a report until four days later specifically because of his injuries? Why was he out and about at 1AM, for that matter? (Did they ask him too if he was “Hakmob?”)
Without such explication, this is just your usual street crime scare tactic item from the Baristas.
I am always happy to see support for my policy of unaffordable housing.
A month or so ago, The Montclair Times reported that our town was “safer than it’s been in 40 years.”
Since then, MPD’s budget was cut drastically, and they’re short 11 officers. Only 2 officers are on patrol per shift in the 4th Ward at any given time, day or night.
Did we have to spend upwards of $750,000 for Quiet Zones? Do we really need bike lanes? Am I more at risk from landscapers and leaf blowers than I am from the knuckleheads who live near me?
It’s said that “we get the government we deserve.” What did I do to deserve this, and how can we make sure that our tax dollars are appropriated to vital services, not happy frillies?
One council member publicly suggested at a budget hearing that: “If there are increased dangerous incidents in town and we find that we need more police officers, we can always put money in the budget to hire more officers.” Well, too late for this year! Geesh!
Well said Pippi (love the pigtails, by the way).
The first duty of government is to protect the citizenry — all the rest comes after that.
Those 11 officers, if they’re out on the street and not behind a desk, can make a huge difference.
Bike lanes be damned! Make your own!
Yes, we are in for a long summer, crime wise. Down 11 officers and more on the way to retirement and no signs of any hiring.
Consider that the past Watchung to the Clifton border, there is no police officer on the midnight shift. No coverage!! at all! The uptown car is always on the other end of town where it is obviously needed more.
If you notice, there are more Glen Ridge cops pulling people over in Montclair than there are Montclair cops pulling people over in Montclair.
Just not enough cops!!! Put our tax dollars where it is needed most…in public safety.
Thank you Pippi- well said. I would add the LEED certified school (while nice) is also unnecessary at this time!
As far as the writing style of the post, it’s apparent that it’s cribbed from a police report. It’s got law enforcement jargon written all over it.
Agree 100% with Pippi.
Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past 50 years, you know there’s a correlation between bad economic times and a rise in crime. That being said, the LAST place I would cut would be the police force.
Bike lanes, quiet zones, pretty wayfinding signs are all fine and good but these are luxuries, the kinds of things you spend money on when times are good or you have a budget surplus. So the next time you or someone you know is mugged, just think, “My tax dollars at work.”
In general, when an innocent, law abiding citizen is accosted by vicious, felonious, criminals, what is their recourse? Acquiescence doesn’t seem to do more than incite the malefactors to even greater levels of violence. How many of us are trained in martial arts and could repell an attack or defend ourselves from an assualt? Not many, I think.
Where are the police when an assault/robbery/rape/murder is taking place. Usually they are nowhere to be found. The police can’t prevent these kinds of crimes. They can only investigate and apprehend.
Personally, I would feel much safer living in a state like Florida or Texas which permits it’s law abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons. Without the ability to defend ourselves, we are easy marks and the criminals know that. Maybe they’d think twice about attacking someone who could legally use deadly force to defend themselves.
Dear Pippi,
Would love to hear more, as this is new information for me, a member of the Council.
My budget book says spending on salaries for MPD INCREASED from last year to this, from $12,185,000 to $12.282,000. I confirmed this with the Manager.
Also, I am very concerned re. staffing. I want to see MORE officers on the road, not less. For example, take “traffic calming.” My opinion is the way you slow down speeders is to pull them over and ticket them. And I think last year’s “sting” on drivers who failed to yield was a great success and should be ongoing. All this requires resources which I’m behind 100%.
So, also let me know about the 11 reduction in staff. From when to when? That way I’ll be able to address it and ask the righ questions.
Thanks,
Cary Africk
2nd Ward Councilor
Cary, that ‘sting’ operation *was* a success–for the 2 or 3 weeks when cops were actually ticketing offenders. As soon as the dedicated sting ended, they stopped enforcing the crosswalk law.
If anything, the whole situation is *more* dangerous now because pedestrians have the gall to think that we might actually be able to cross the street @ a crosswalk without getting flattened, but a lot of drivers don’t seem to have read the memo.
Why is it that we need to have special funding and a special project in order for Montclair/GR/Bloomfield cops to enforce existing laws? Do they not have the resources to randomly assign one car to a prominent crosswalk in town for a couple of hours per week? If they did this, it might remind drivers there’s still a possibility they’ll get ticketed for plowing past peds in crosswalks (even though there’s no special *grant* to make this happen).
[Yeah, I'm pissed about this. Law or no law, I have no idea why the majority of people around here are so immune to common sense and plain decency that they think it's more important to save 3 seconds than to let someone on foot cross the street--even when crossing with a baby, dog, etc.]
At any given level of police staffing, there’s certain things they can and can’t do.
If I’m being told that at current staffing we can’t effectively ticket speeders, or crosswalk violators, that’s what I believe.
Asking the police to mount programs they are insufficiently staffed to do is silly.
Yes, traffic laws should be enforced year round, not just when there’s a sting. But it’s just a matter of the level of enforcement.
As to the insane drivers in town, it’s going to take more than bike lanes or other striping to slow them down. If they routinely ignore moms and kids in crosswalks, not only failing to yield but sometimes driving around them, or even driving onto oncoming traffic to avoid slowing down, what makes anyone think these cretins are going to slow down for road striping?
Education, then enforcement. Crazy drivers aren’t suddenly going to become considerate, law abiding drivers.
Cary Africk
2nd Ward Councilor
OK, so what are the proposals for educating local drivers?
And honestly, Cary–I don’t think it’s ‘silly’ to suggest that the Montclair police might be able to carve out 2 hours a week for one cop to handle this kind of initiative. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who’s seen a Montclair cop driving around town [poorly] while talking on a cell phone instead of paying attention to what drivers are doing. If they have time to chat, they have time to ticket.
Hey Cary,
Mission Street. Come by any night this week. There’s a big sale, blue light special, on drugs tonight.
Yeah!
MellonBrush2- It’s nice to see somebody else support concealed carry… Doubtful it will ever happen in this state though… You can however get a Florida non-resident carry permit which is recognized by 22+ other states (including PA)! You can do the whole thing by mail-order!
The cross walk and cars verse people issues go both ways.
I had to stop my car yesterday because of a man walking his very excitable puppy and daughter in the middle of the street. The puppy was dodging back and forth to the middle of the road and it was near impossible not to hit it. I had to stop until they walked by and I had to bit my tongue to stop from screaming at the father. There was a perfectly nice sidewalk next to him for his pet and child btw.
A few weeks ago same thing with a woman and a dog in Glen Ridge, but the woman was smart enough to get back on the sidewalk after a near miss but let her dog stay in the street.
I’ll go for concealed carry laws if I can use my weapon to pistol whip idiots like these two.
Sounds a bit extreme, hrhppg. Although I don’t understand either why they wouldn’t have just used the sidewalks.
Nonetheless–the major offenders in this area are drivers, not pedestrians.
“you know there’s a correlation between bad economic times and a rise in crime”
food and tax riots by 2012…. Gerald Celente and Peter Schiff.
It’s always been a wonder to me that laws can only be enforced when there’s grants for this that and the other. Why can’t officers enforce laws while they aren’t doing something else. With the freaquency of cell phoners, pedestrian ignorers, tailgaters it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. Why wait for a grant? If they don’t produce fire them.