New Bureau Increases Amount of Arrests in Housing Authority

In the first 18 days that the new Housing Authority police bureau has been in operation, 10 arrests have been made, according to Lt. Charlie Campbell, who is assigned to the precinct.

The new bureau is headed by Captain Anthony Romano and four full-time cops, who are assigned to the area every day between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m.  

"It's absolutely an increase," said Campbell about the amount of arrests, although he did not have more specific numbers. These are only arrests that are made in the area of the Housing Authority, he added. Most of the arrests were made for outstanding warrants, drug possession or trespassing, said Campbell.

In addition, said Executive Director of the Housing Authority Carmelo Garcia, there were two apartments raided recently at 310 and 320 Marshall Dr. Drugs and a gun were found, Garcia said. 

As part of the agreement with the city, , a public safety council comprised of citizens of the HHA still has to be formed. 

"Communication has increased," said Garcia, who said he and the police chief meet once a week to discuss safety issues in the Housing Authority. The public safety council, will hold people accountable for the results of the new bureau, said Director of Public Safety Angel Alicea. 

"We need to finally take a progressive approach," Alicea said about reducing crime in the Housing Authority. "We're not going to keep the status quo."

As another initiative to increase safety, Garcia said that the board will add gang activity to the "denial list." Currently, an application to live in the Hoboken Housing Authority can be denied for multiple reasons, such as drug or alchohol abuse. As a preventative measure, recent or previous gang activity will be added to that list, Garcia said. 

"We need to have the ability to say 'no' to that individual," Garcia said. Garcia added that it's a recent trend that public housing units are used for gang activity and initiations. He said that he did not know of any specific examples of this in the HHA.

As far as the new police bureau is concerned, Campbell said the officers who work there want to know what's going on and want to get to know the residents.

"I personally volunteered for this," he said. "We're just starting ... and the guys are open to conversations."

The bureau can be reached at (201) 222-7261 and is manned full time by a police officer.