New York Times: Booker Names 6 to Top Jobs in Newark. Two days before his inauguration, Cory Booker named officials to the top jobs in his administration. Booker’s appointments will be scrutinized relative to how they are able to deal with the growing crime problem as citizens fear an increase in the homicide rate.
Anthony Campos, a 20-year veteran of the Newark Police Department, was named acting police chief. Mr. Campos, 39, is currently the deputy chief of police and will succeed Chief Irving F. Bradley Jr. Mr. Booker said he was conducting a nationwide search for a permanent police director and chief but that he had authorized Mr. Campos to increase police presence on the street within hours of the swearing-in at noon on Saturday.
Newark has seen a rise in violent crime in the last year, and both Mr. Booker and Chief Campos cited last weekend’s violence in the city, in which eight people were shot and two of them died.
“He will not be successful in his job unless the community rallies to his side,” Mr. Booker said.
Chief Campos, a lifelong resident of Newark, said the city faced tough challenges in fighting crime and that he and Mr. Booker would present comprehensive crime-fighting plans within the next few weeks.
New York Times: Pledging to Revive Newark, a New Mayor Goes to Work. On Saturday, Booker took office pledging to stop the rampant crime we’ve seen growing in the city in the past few weeks. He names some of the teenagers who were killed in recent weeks in his speech.
Specifically, Mr. Booker said his administration would immediately implement zero-tolerance policing. Reiterating his campaign promise to add hundreds of officers to the streets, he said, “I will enforce all laws, from traffic laws, with people speeding down our suburban streets, to littering laws.”
He said his administration would also expand recreation and summer job opportunities, add drug treatment programs and help former prisoners re-enter the community. He did not mention how the city would pay for these services.
But with the help of his Municipal Council — all nine members sworn in on Saturday were on the new mayor’s ticket — Mr. Booker said Newark would soon re-emerge as one of the nation’s greatest cities.
“America is calling us,” he said. “Newark’s history is calling us.”
Newsday: Newark reeling from wave of teen homicides. Meanwhile, Newsday publishes an Associated Press story detailing concerns about the attacks.
In the past 19 months, 20 teenagers have been slain in Newark. The most recent came last weekend, when gunplay left two people dead and 11 injured in eight separate attacks.
The sheer numbers don’t begin to tell the story of how the killings have rocked New Jersey’s largest city. The recent attacks have sent new fear through long-suffering neighborhoods, and throwing cold water on the optimism generated by the inauguration of a reform-minded mayor who has vowed to make stopping the carnage his first priority.
“It’s incredibly horrible,” said Cory Booker, who took over as mayor Saturday. “It should not be in a city this strong and a nation this great that children are dying this young.”