Newark has seen a 40 percent surge in gun violence this year, but the city's top cop tells the Newark Star-Ledger that despite a recent rash of shootings, his “Safe City” anti-violence campaign is helping to reverse the trend. Between Jan. 1 and July 10, there were 175 shootings in Newark, leaving 213 people dead or injured. During the same period last year, there were 125 shootings and 161 victims.
“We're not going to turn everything around in one month. That's an impossibility. But we're heading in the right direction,” said Acting Police Director Samuel DeMaio, who was named police director in May when Garry McCarthy resigned after four years to become superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. Within a month of taking over, DeMaio launched his “Safe City” campaign, the goal of which is to increase police presence in dangerous neighborhoods and boost community involvement.