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The Observer | www.theobserver.com
Thoughts & Views EDITORIAL
By George & Great Scott, KPD’s crime stats were stellar
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Wednesday, June 9, 2021
ast week, we reported some tremendous news. Kearny’s overall crime, as reported by the FBI in the annual Uniform Crime Report, dropped a whopping 27.5% in 2020 over numbers in 2019 that were, themselves, a part of another drop. It’s all part of a trend that started four-plus years ago under retired Chief John P. Dowie and that has continued with Chief George King and Deputy Chief Scott Macfie. (King had been deputy chief when the numbers began to sharply drop.) The numbers dropped, again, in the middle of a global pandemic, but the trends reveal it wasn’t the pandemic that made the numbers so strong. In fact, in one recent year, the drop was 36%, so despite the great numbers, they’re not even the biggest decrease in recent memory. They’ve dropped because the department is proactive and not reactive. They’ve dropped because the department has many young officers who go above and beyond the call of duty on a daily basis. They’ve dropped because technology has become an integral part of policing. They’ve dropped because each year, when there are retirements, replacements are made to ensure the department is properly staffed. And they’ve dropped because of the leadership of King and Macfie, who have served the Town of Kearny in as exemplary a manner as is possible to dream of. This has all happened in a country that hasn’t exactly been wild about law enforcement, especially over the last 13 months. When things got rough nationally, the police here didn’t retreat. Instead, they were out there, risking their lives, in a visible a manner as one could imagine. While sandwiched between two major urban metropolises — Jersey City and Newark — things have drastically improved. This, alone, is remarkable, on top of all the other factors. Kearny has always been a great place to live and work, but it’s never been clearer. We are all fortunate this is a reality. And because of King, Macfie and countless others, we all rest our heads each night knowing we do so in a very safe place to live. Can’t ask for much more than that.
Giangeruso: EMTs will be following up with patients who declined hospital visits To the Editor: As mayor and the director of public safety, I am happy to announce a new enhancement to our Emergency Medical Service (EMS) for the community. Beginning May 2021, a member of the town’s EMS team will be reaching out to patients who called for assistance but refused to be transported to the hospital. We developed this service enhancement after recognizing many patients declined transportation after initially being seen by the EMS Team. This group of patients increased significantly over recent months, many of whom cited legitimate concerns
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about COVID. On-scene responders often felt it was in the patients’ best interest to be seen by hospital staff, but were required to follow the patients’ choices. Any patient who requests medical assistance for an illness or injury but declines transportation to a medical facility should expect a member of the EMS team to contact them within a few days of their call for help. The team member calling will be a fully certified Lyndhurst Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). They will inquire if you are feeling better and encourage you to seek further medical attention if you are still feeling ill and have not.
They will offer emergency transportation or reevaluation of symptoms if you request. The team member making these calls will not ask for any additional personally identifiable information, will not seek any payment or payment information and will not make any specific diagnosis or provide specific medical advice. This service is a pilot program that hopefully will lead to a wider community para-medicine project helping ensure our residents receive needed help and support when they are ill or injured, especially during the pandemic. Robert B. Giangeruso Mayor of Lyndhurst
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he Observer strives to bring our readers the best and the most accurate news. However, from time to time, there may be mistakes in what we report. As such, we take our obligation to report errors seriously. If you believe we’ve made an error, please send an e-mail to editorial@theobserver.com, indicating what is to be corrected. We will ensure a correction is noted (if necessary) in a future print edition — and online.
In Memoriam Mary A. Tortoreti 1942-2016
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