ROLLER COASTER
Trenton Police Director slammed in new lawsuit as she begins efforts to get her message out to the public »
TRENTON » City police director Sheilah Coley will not stand down.
Her pointed response came after a resident called on her to resign as TPD’s leader over her decision to tell officers to stand down from responding to a reported arson at Tony Liquor in downtown Trenton during a May 31 riot.
“I will not be stepping down. Let’s be clear about that,” she said.
The director’s standdown order, which is being reviewed by Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri, dominated Tuesday’s Latino Symposium, held with the Guatemalan Civic Association.
Pastor Karen Hernandez-Granzen of the Westminster Presbyterian Church moderated and translated the event.
The public forum was part of what some suggested is a politically expedient media-blitz for the usually reclusive director, who grants few interviews.
The city said that, beginning July 21, Coley will take part in a sevenweek call-in radio show on WBCB 1490 AM radio hosted by lobbyist Jeannine LaRue.
“This is an important opportunity for Trenton PD to connect with residents,” Coley said in a statement. “Now more than ever we need to strengthen police-community communications and deepen our connections with residents and community leaders.”
The announcement came a day after residents, business owners and community stakeholders grilled Coley, in Spanish and English, about her efforts to improve policing and better address the needs of the Latino community in the capital city amid nationwide efforts to reform the police in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
Attendees brought up a range of issues from police response time to allegations that cops are always responsive to reports of petty crimes.
The May 31 riot, when looters caused havoc, ransacking dozens of businesses across the city, was on everyone’s mind.
One resident compared what the uprising to the movie “The Purge.”
Like she has in previous interviews, Coley defended her decision to tell a group of officers to stand down as they prepared to respond to Tony Liquor.
Coley said at least 100 officers from New Jersey State Police and Bucks County covered that stretch of the city.
She said Trenton officers didn’t have the proper riot training to adequately respond to a dangerous situation. Waldemar Ronquillo, the capital city resident who demanded Coley’s resignation, said he was upset seeing his “friend’s business destroyed,” referring to Tony Liquor.
Ronquillo said after the meeting that he was dissatisfied with the director’s “excuses.”
He planned to continue pressing for Coley’s ouster at council meetings.
“The way she responds is not professional,” he said. “I want her to resign because she failed that night.”
Coley urged those in attendance not to judge her “based on one day.”
Going around the room, Coley quizzed officers who were at the meeting about the last time they received riot training.
Trenton Police Lt. James Slack said he hadn’t had been trained in “many years” on how to disperse rowdy crowds like the once cops faced the night of the riot.
Coley said she wouldn’t send officers into a situation that she wouldn’t respond to herself.
“I didn’t tell them not to do anything. [It was], ‘Let me go see what’s going on, and then I will tell you what to do next.’ Because that’s what leaders do. I will not send them where I won’t go,” she said. “That was the right decision to make that night.”
Ex-Trenton cop William Osterman and the Latino Merchant Association of New jersey filed complaints against Coley with the MCPO. The complaints are still pending.
Liquor store owner Tony Arias has estimated looters caused $300,000 worth of damage that night.
Coley said more than two dozen people were arrested the night of the riot, many of them Trentonians, and another seven people were charged since then.
Later in the night, Coley was involved in a heated exchange with Manuel Hernandez, president of the Latino Merchant Association of New Jersey.
Rejecting some of his claims, the director told him to “walk in the light.”
“It’s always productive,” Hernandez said afterward about the exchange. “We had two or three appointments with to meet with her to talk about the business conditions, and she never showed . ... We still want to work with her.”
While she has faced heat for sending officers home early before the riot broke out, Coley said the riot was hard to predict despite the department’s intelligence efforts.
Police identified social media posts that suggested some capital city residents invited outside agitators to cause havoc after two days of peaceful protesting over the death of Floyd, Coley said.
Among those arrested were Earlja Dudley, 27, of Trenton, and Justin Spry, 21, of South Plainsfield, who were charged with federal crimes for torching a TPD cruiser.
Hernandez wondered whether city officials encouraged Coley to take on more public appearances to stem perception that she is MIA and staunch some of the criticism she’s faced.
“I think that’s part of it,” he said. “She’s been here for over a year . ... Better late than never.”