The Paterson Municipal Council debated a proposed increase in Urban Enterprise Zone funding to pay for quality‑of‑life off‑duty patrols in commercial corridors during its Oct. 14 workshop.

The resolution would authorize the UEZ division to use $1,818,476.96 for patrols and camera-supported enforcement in the zone. City public safety and UEZ officials said the program is evidence‑driven and intended to be flexible — directing officers to hot spots identified by calls for service, ShotSpotter data and camera feeds.

“We will look at the calls for service, arrests, shooting stats, shot‑spotter data and heat maps to find where those hot spots are,” a police official said, describing the department’s ComStat and weekend deployment meetings.

Several council members urged the administration to provide more detailed performance metrics before a vote. Councilman Jackson repeatedly asked for granular data — including the locations, times and types of summonses and arrests tied to last year’s $1.6 million deployment — arguing that the packet’s summary tables were not sufficiently detailed for a multi‑million dollar commitment. “Don’t give me an overall data sheet with no supporting data,” he said.

UEZ and police staff said a detailed attachment with crime and deployment statistics had been provided with the legislation packet; council members asked that the packet and those attachments be re‑circulated to the clerk and posted so members and the public can review them before a vote.

Council members also discussed where UEZ funds should be deployed in a city with competing needs: targeted downtown clean‑up and enforcement, neighborhood corridors and areas of chronic safety complaints. Officials said the funds are state UEZ dollars that require quarterly reporting to the state and that the program is designed to be adaptable.

The council agreed to place the resolution on the regular meeting agenda for a vote next week and asked UEZ and police staff to supply the requested breakdowns in advance, including call‑for‑service and summons detail for areas proposed for expansion.

No final vote was taken at the Oct. 14 workshop; councilors scheduled the measure for the next regular meeting pending the additional data.