As of July 1, I’ve stopped recording crimes in North Jersey. The project is effectively over, and while I was planning to keep it going for four months, there are some reasons that I just can’t do it anymore.
1. Time constraints. Working a real job twelve hours a day, five days a week, doesn’t give me a lot of time to write blog posts or record crime data; the rare moments I’m free I want to relax and spend with friends. I was planning to just start recording violent crimes – murder, shooting, robbery – as burglary and stolen vehicles were far too common and minor. However, now that June has ended, I’ve stopped the project entirely. It was just too much…but my murder map is still going on.
2. Unreliable statistics. The Clifton Journal provides in-depth coverage of all crime in the city, down to the minute thefts and burglaries. The same goes for other towns, like suburban Pequannock and Teaneck. They run well-kept websites that diligently track crime. Poor cities – Passaic, Newark, Paterson – have no such websites, and can’t afford to track the massive amount of crime that occurs within their borders. That’s why Newark has only one burglary listed, while Cedar Grove has around twelve. No one would debate Newark having more total burglaries – but the stats don’t show this.
3. Bias in journalism. When Justin Grisham, 13, was shot and killed in Irvington, his death didn’t appear in the newspapers for a week. Similarly, murders in Newark don’t make the front page, and sometimes aren’t even covered. However, murders in the suburbs get a massive amount of press. This is partially because Newark attempts to downplay its murder rate, and partially because of innate prejudice – in the poor and minority areas, it’s EXPECTED that they kill one another. It’s not news when a teenage boy is shot on a corner in Camden, it’s news when that doesn’t happen. Crimes in the suburbs are heavily covered, while crimes in the inner-cities, even murders, are treated as if the victims aren’t deserving of the same attention and respect. It’s offensive, but it’s reality in the Star-Ledger.
4. The murder map is more important. As I said, my murder map project is still running strong, and I think I’ll be continuing that indefinitely. Murders are relatively rare, very serious, and get a lot of publicity – all of which make them easier to record for data purposes. All of 2009 is up to date, and April-December 2008 as well. Expect posts in the future about them!
I’ll still update on crime occasionally, but the murder map is now my primary focus.
The week in homicide:
On July 1, Adrian Betanzos, 26, was found beaten to death in his home in New Brunswick, located on French Street. His roommate, a 20-year-old illegal immigrant named Reinaldo Fuentes, was arrested and charged in the murder. Also that day, an unidentified 34-year-old man was shot in the back of the head on a dead end on Weequahic Avenue, Newark. Many times, murder victims aren’t even identified by name in the paper, especially if they die in the slums.
On July 2, a police shooting took the life of a brazen burglar. Edwin Munoz, 22, a Hoboken resident, was burglarizing cars in Belleville along with his partner Japhet Lopez of Newark, 25. This type of crime is all too common, as my data shows, but the end of their story is an uncommon one.
The Belleville police caught them and gave chase, and a high-speed pursuit into Newark took place. The burglars pulled their car into a dead-end street in Newark, and panicking and trying to escape, struck a police officer. The officers began to fire, and Munoz was shot in the head. He died a short time later. Lopez attempted to flee, but was arrested.
On July 3, a 21-year-old man succumbed to the wounds he had received in a brutal stabbing in Hackensack the week earlier. Victor Garcia of Teaneck was standing outside the M&M factory when three gang members began arguing with him, stabbing him in the throat and stomach. Manuel Ramirez of Hackensack, 21, Gabriel Pujols of Union City, 21, and a 16-year-old Hackensack minor were arrested and charged with the murder. They all were associated with the gang DDP (Dominicans Don't Play). This murder, which took place on the corner of Lodi and Holt, was the closest in proximity to where I live. I don’t consider Hackensack an unsafe area, but it has gangs and crime, and care should always be taken wherever you walk in certain parts.
Yesterday, the body of a 2-year-old girl was found in a plastic bag on a riverbank in Clifton, and this morning, a 19-year-old man named Devohn Warren was shot multiple times outside an East Orange house. Homicides this week have been entirely in urban areas, and one was justified. I’ll keep updating the maps, so keep your eye out for updates!
New Jersey Murder Map 2009
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=100430255326859206461.00046c0c8bf50984defdd&ct=docsearch&cd=2&cad=docsearch,cid:5026006392543339616
New Jersey Murder Map 2008
Part 1 –http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=100430255326859206461.00046d3b4de6cca1b960c&ct=docsearch&cd=3&cad=docsearch,cid:2867335661195458285
Part 2 – http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=100430255326859206461.00046ddb7ddbc92058992&ct=docsearch&cd=4&cad=docsearch,cid:15976396532017962073
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