Gov. Christie says ‘Trenton is troubling for a whole bunch of reasons’ on Election Day
MENDHAM TWP » With nearly eight years under his belt as governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie was asked outside his polling place what he has done to address the homelessness crisis in the capital city.
At first, the Republican governor in his final 70 days in office touted his administration’s success that homelessness is “significantly down double digits” across the state.
“We’ve done more to reduce homelessness in this state than any administration in the last 30 years, and we’re incredibly proud of it,” Christie said outside Mendham’s Emergency Services Building on Tuesday. “And part of it is our efforts on drug treatment as well because drug treatment and mental illness are inexplicable connected to homelessness.”
The governor then remarked on the reporter’s question to mention the “one place that is troubling and that’s Trenton.”
“But Trenton is troubling for a whole bunch of reasons — not just about homelessness,” Christie said. “Trenton is troubling from an economic prospective. Trenton is troubling from a public safety prospective.” On Halloween, Christie said at a press conference that Trenton “should be re-examining the way they do policing.”
The governor has had a longstanding offer that Trenton has never accepted: replace the current Trenton Police Department with a county force.
In 2013, Camden abolished its police department and formed a regional county police force to put more boots on the ground. Camden’s old 270-officer department was replaced with a force totaling more than 400 officers, which resulted in officers walking dangerous neighborhoods.
“Camden is a model for how this should be done,” Christie said. “With the same amount of money, they have significant more police on the street and you have seen a significant drop in Camden’s violent crime.”
In a statement after the governor’s remarks, a Mercer County spokeswoman said “a county police force is not the solution.” Christie said he felt “there are some politics involved” and also said Trenton “cannot exclusively rely upon on the state police to always be there.”
“We will participate when requested but if you see an increase in violence in some of these cities, then they have to come up with how do they change that,” the governor said last week. “That’s the city’s responsibility.”
After holding some press conferences over the summer with Trenton Mayor Eric Jackson to announce some initiatives, it now seems the outgoing governor’s willingness to help Trenton at the end of his term is waning with his recent comments.