Tuesday, May 20, 2014

We thought there were supposed to be less police waving at traffic around construction sites, not more

When Mayor Steve Fulop took office, he said that getting civilian-trained people who weren't police officers to handle traffic around construction sites in our fair city was the plan going forward. There would be less official police presence because, well there's still a lot of crime in Jersey City and they were also going to be using dozens and dozens of extra police in the mornings and afternoons to help smooth the Pulaski Skyway shutdown.

By any measure a quick walk anywhere downtown seems either the mayor's grand plan to take police away from low impact low stress jobs at building sites and put them back into policing the community is flailing about like a fish. Did police push back quietly to the point they themselves are getting these sweet shifts? Could the city not find people interested in making money standing at closed intersections and roads? Because by any metric you'd like to use the police are back handling all the road closures and the civilian-trained guards have become like Jersey City's own Sasquatch, seen rarely, never filmed and mostly tall tales.

So Mr. Fulop, what happened?

3 cops, one intersection

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