Crime Up 44 Per Cent in Trenton - And That Doesn't Even Include What's Going On in City Hall!

Friday’s Trentonian published a story that puts numbers to what we already knew: since the massive layoff of about one-third of Trenton’s police force last fall, crime statistics have jumped significantly. The story by Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman reports a year-to-year spike of 44 per cent in “overall” crime – defined in the story as “homicides, rapes, robberies, assaults, burglaries, thefts and auto thefts” – from March 2011 to March 2012.

To be fair, I would suspect that some of the increase is likely due to the almost summer-like weather we experienced in March of this year as compared to March of 2011, when we were coming off a brutal winter season that dumped snow and rain on the city during the month that typically comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.

The article itself cites crime statistics for August 2011, the last month before the massive layoffs in the Police Department. And those numbers for August look awfully similar to this year’s March statistics in many respects. So, I will say that I think although the major factor by far in the increase of overall crime is the reduction in Trenton’s police force, the mild weather this winter and spring has certainly contributed to the deterioration in public safety. As we move further into the “real” spring and on to summer, I shudder to think what may be in store for us in the Capital City.

There is another factor to consider when talking about crime statistics in Trenton. Apart from the occasional  arrests and indictments connected to Trenton’s City Government – a David Tallone here, a Stanley “Muscles” Davis there – remarkably few actual charges have yet arisen from the antics of the crew collectively known as the Tony F. Mack Administration. Therefore, all that activity at City Hall and in city-related business all through Trenton hasn’t yet made its way into the town’s official crime statistics. Yet.

Hard to believe, isn’t it?

Of course, it’s not for lack of trying.

For instance, there is the report of a simple assault complaint filed against “Acting” Public Works Director Harold Hall in connection with his attempt to bar a union representative from attending a disciplinary hearing for a city employee. According to the Saturday Times article by Matt Fair, Hall forced [acting president of one of the city’s labor unions Edmund] Johnson into the doorway and used the door itself to push him out of the room, Johnson said.” Mr. Johnson. by the way, is acting president of the union in place of the aforementioned Mr. Tallone, currently under indictment on fraud charges.

So, this assault charge? Probably won’t be reflected in the city’s April crime stats.

And, no charges are yet being talked about in connection with Lisa Whitaker, the shadowy “city operative” (my term for her) that I discussed the other day as being an odd hybrid of employee/consultant/volunteer who is “running” the city’s recreation program, as quoted by Harold Hall to the Times during one of his rare moments not allegedly shoving union officials out of meetings.

No charges are pending, even though a follow-up article about her penned by Alex Zdan in yesterday’s Times reports that payroll records obtained by the Times by an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request show that Ms. Whitaker “has routinely worked 40 hours or more per week and been paid from the city’s general funds, despite her official status as a part-time, grant-funded consultant barred from regular city employment. Her $25 hourly wage, which pays her for up to 20 hours of work per week through a county-administered, state-funded grant, has been supplemented by thousands of dollars in ‘overage hours’ paid directly from city coffers.”

Hmm, that seems odd to me.  An individual is not supposed to be paid as both an employee and a consultant at the same time by one employer. That could be a problem for both the individual and the Employer, and cause both Department of Labor and IRS problems, not to mention problems with the grant-making entity responsible for part of Ms. Whitaker’s payments.  The article quotes Mercer County’s director of human services, Marygrace Billek as saying  “[I]f Whitaker is a city employee, she cannot be a paid grant consultant. ‘You can’t do both. You can’t have a dual role like that,’ she said.”

Uh oh. Sounds like a problem here!

However, Ms. Whitaker has her defenders. “Well, I know Lisa’s a very hard-working individual who cares very much about who she’s working for. She’s doing absolutely nothing wrong or illegal.”

Very strongly said! Sounds like a good friend. Who said that? According to the Times, “her attorney, Robin Lord.”

Really, an attorney? Really? No one is yet talking about any charges, let alone  anyone suggesting any criminal charges, yet Ms. Whitaker has lawyered up with perhaps Trenton’s most prominent criminal defense attorney. Imagine that! I suppose Ms. Whitaker may feel that a high-powered lawyer is someone she needs right now, for whatever reasons…

But Ms. Whitaker has been reported as having only earned – in all her various capacities under City auspices – $11,000 in pay since December 2011. Yet she can afford Robin Lord?

Interesting. That begs the question: who is paying Lisa Whitaker’s legal bills? By the way, who got Lisa Whitaker her job with the City in the first place? Who approved paying her as a consultant AND an employee? Hmmm…

Whatever she may or may not have done – and hiring a defense lawyer is no proof that anything illegal has transpired, of course – this is another instance of activity that won’t be part of Trenton’s crime statistics.

What other illegal activity is going on that isn’t yet reported, or charged? Too much, I’m afraid!