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Council presses for data as UEZ funding for off-duty patrols rises to $1.8M
Summary
Council members backed expanding UEZ-funded off-duty police patrols and camera work to $1.8 million but demanded detailed performance data from police and the UEZ director before next week's regular vote.
The Paterson Municipal Council agreed at its Oct. 14 workshop to move forward with a resolution to increase Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) funds for quality-of-life off-duty police patrols from about $1.6 million to $1.8 million, but several members demanded more data on how prior funds were spent and what outcomes the patrols produced.
The director described the program as "evidence-based policing," citing weekly ComStat meetings, heat maps and statistics the department uses to deploy officers to hotspot corridors. Councilman Jackson repeatedly pressed for specific performance data: where tickets were issued, the times and locations of enforcement, how many moving violations were recorded in UEZ corridors and whether the program disproportionately targeted residents rather than addressing the commercial corridors the program is intended to protect.
"If you are asking us to support $1,800,000 from UEZ that could support a small business or other uses, I want to see the data of how effective the money we spent last year was," Jackson said, requesting reports on the prior year's deployments and outcomes.
Police and the UEZ director said monthly and weekly reports exist and that attachments and crime data were included with the package provided to council; staff agreed to supply additional breakdowns in advance of the regular meeting, including summaries of calls for service, arrests, camera use and deployment maps. Several council members also asked for assurances the money would be distributed across multiple wards and not concentrated in a single area.
Council members described the funds as state-dedicated UEZ dollars subject to state compliance; the resolution was placed on the regular agenda for next week so members can review the requested data before any vote.
The director said the program will continue to use data-driven deployment and that staff would provide the requested reports in time for the council's next meeting.
