Here’s a first hand account of this past Tuesday’s meeting of the 4th Ward residents with the Hoboken Police Department offered by resident Rami Pinchevsky:

This past Tuesday night, the Hoboken Police Department hosted a meet and greet for residents of Hoboken living south of 6^th Street, and west of Madison.

Chief Falco spoke on his visions for the City.  4^th Ward Councilman Michael Lenz also made a brief statement how he was eager to work with the department and thanked them for putting together the event.

Multiple members of the police department spoke on various topics, including: 

Light Rail Problems:  Officer Jason Falco mentioned that between December 2008 and January 2009, there were 7 aggravated assaults at the Light Rail station.  As a result, the have installed better lighting and increased police patrol resulting in zero violent crimes since.

 Burglaries: Lieutenant Ferrante discussed that Hoboken has fortunately not had serious numbers of home invasions in recent years, with most burglaries these days of the bike and postal package variety.  He discussed various ways in which one could reduce the likelihood of being a target of theft.  In addition, he mentioned that if your building has been burglarized, the police would come and thoroughly review the property and make a complete survey detailing ways to better protect your property.


Traffic and Pedestrian Safety: Sergeant Marnell explained that most traffic infractions in Hoboken are attributable to running stop signs and double parking.  Last year they issued 713 traffic summons.  That number does not include tickets issues by the Parking Authority.

Several other officers also spoke about bike safety, school/juvenile problems, and auto burglaries/vandalisms.  Officer Barbro specifically mentioned that car burglaries tend to increase during the Holiday season.  A very easy trick, which many people tend to ignore, is to simply not leave anything of value in eyesight within your car.

After a 10-minute break, where those attending where asked to fill out the Police Community Survey, it was on to the Q&A session.  First question was whether to dial 911, or call the Hoboken Police directly at 201-420-2100.  If you call 911, you’ll eventually be transferred to the Hoboken Police department.  So if you have the direct number, its better to just dial it rather than 911.

While attendance wasn’t overwhelming, (Talking Ed. Note – approx 20) there certainly was a good mix of residents representing different areas of the 4^th Ward.  There were many questions regarding the safety and police presence within the Hoboken Housing Authority.  Several HHA residents described their experiences in calling the HPD with the phone call going unanswered.  Some of the HHA residents were upset with the amount of time it took between calling the police and having them actually show up.  They also discussed how they routinely see other residents of the HHA drinking, and sometimes smoking marijuana in public.  They were hopeful that the police would initiate stricter enforcement.

 Other questions/suggestions included the possibility of closing down certain roads in the 4^th Ward when it flooded, enforcement of illegal parkers, and the idea of a city-wide 311 system for non-emergency calls.

All in all, this was a great way to open up the lines of communication between members of the public and the HPD.  The meeting lasted about 3 hours.

Photos courtesy the Bank Robber 
Photo on first page: Lt. Ferrante, above: Police Chief Falco


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