January 15, 2021 at 4:49 AM
PATERSON, NJ - On Thursday, Mayor Andre Sayegh, Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale, and Police Chief Ibrahim “Mike” Baycora hosted a news conference at Paterson City Hall to present, and explain, crime statistics for 2020. The trio of city leaders noted that overall crime dropped in the last 12 months but shootings and homicides have increased.
In a Powerpoint presentation by the mayor, statistics concerning lawbreaking were displayed. For 2020, arson was down by 14%, larceny was lowered by 27%, motor vehicle theft dropped by 33%, and the number of burglaries fell by 34%. Rapes committed dropped by 6% and robberies by 10%. However, instances of aggravated assault jumped by 35% and, in a statistic that officials referred to as “alarming,” the homicide rate skyrocketed by 42%.
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Paterson drug detectives raided a public housing development and seized 426 heroin folds, 45 bags and 18 vials of crack, a loaded handgun and $7,822 in drug proceeds, authorities said.
They arrested seven adults, as well as a 16-year-old boy who they said was carrying a loaded handgun.
Police responding to complaints of drug dealing got a warrant for the residence at the low-rise Sojourner Douglass Homes on Jefferson Street off North 1st Street, Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said.
Among those arrested on various charges involving the sale of heroin and cocaine were first-floor resident and ex-con Yasir Kenner, 25; Shawnice Bryan, 19, of East 27th Street; and Kenyon Greene, 44, of Camden Street.
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In a squat, non-descript house on Paterson’s north side, narcotics detectives found 13,350 heroin folds, 83 vials of crack, three guns and more than $4,000 in proceeds, authorities said.
Five adults and a juvenile were taken into custody during Tuesday’s Bergen Street raid, prompted by a spike in area crime and complaints from neighbors of open-air drug sales, city Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said.
One of them, Yhamere F. Mayo, 30, of North 5th Street, was charged in connection with a shooting in 2019.
Two of the other four adults arrested on various drug and weapons charges live in the home, which Speziale said was a hub of drug production and distribution.
By STEVE LENOX
January 6, 2021 at 6:30 AM
A previous effort by law enforcement officials yielded large amounts of drugs and cash.
A previous effort by law enforcement officials yielded large amounts of drugs and cash.
Credits: Passaic County Sheriff s Office
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January 6, 2021 at 6:30 AM
PATERSON, NJ - Paterson Police Narcotics Division made a “major accomplishment” Tuesday with the closure of an “illegal drug distribution ring and manufacturing plant” that was operating from a Bergen Street home, Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale announced.
According to Speziale, the operation was launched in response to a recent spike in criminal activity as well as numerous citizen complaints and led to the seizure of 13,350 glassines of heroin, 83 vials of crack cocaine, and 14 jars and 84 bags of marijuana.
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Maskless patrons and employees scrambled to hide evidence when Paterson police raided an illegal after-hours club that had become a death trap, authorities said.
Police found the door to La Café Hookah on Market Street locked when they showed up around 10:30 p.m. Saturday – a full half-hour after Gov. Phil Murphy’s COVID curfew required them to close, Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said.
City officers looking through tinted windows saw people “scrambling inside removing hookahs and bottles of alcohol and taking them out a back door that led to a small area with no exit,” Speziale said.