The executive director of the Hoboken Housing Authority wants the Hoboken Police Department to reopen a precinct at its main complex in the wake of a fatal shooting that sent a shockwaves throughout the community.
The death of Damon Murray, a 21-year-old former high school sports star, outside the housing authority’s main complex has prompted some councilmembers to call for the reinstatement of the precinct. Marc Recko, director of the housing authority, told The Jersey Journal Wednesday he agrees with them.
“I think our cooperation with the police has been great and something like that would just make it better,” said Recko, adding that there is currently no security at the main complex west of Jackson Street between Second and Sixth streets. “I would love to see them have a home here at the Hoboken Housing Authority.”
Murray was a star on the Hoboken High School football and basketball teams. Most recently he was working for the Hoboken school district, specifically with special needs children as a paraprofessional, and was looking to become a city firefighter.
A precinct at the housing authority closed in 2016 when the housing authority was told by federal officials that it could not use the funding for a precinct. Councilmembers Michael Russo, Ruben Ramos and Tiffanie Fisher are among those calling for the precincts reopening.
Ramos, whose Fourth Ward includes the housing authority complex, said that a precinct would prevent shootings like the one that occurred on Sunday, and that he’s also open to having a mobile precinct in the area. But he added that there’s complications because the city is facing staffing issues within the police department.
Recko said the reopening of a precinct would depend on police staffing, but he added that if the police department was able to provide officers, he could make a new precinct happen “very quickly,” preferably at the Harrison Gardens complex. He also said that “community policing” would benefit the community.
“The community shouldn’t just see the police when they’re out here to arrest them, right?” Recko said “They should be seeing the police in between, say ‘Hello, how are you?’ The police get an idea more of what’s going on in the community and the community gets to know the police better. It’s and old tried-and-true formula.”
When asked if reinstating the precinct at the public housing complex could be seen as profiling of the city’s Black and Hispanic community, Recko said that he could understand that perspective but asserted that he’s “open to doing anything we can to make sure (a murder) doesn’t happen in the future.”
Ramos and Russo, who sits on the housing authority Board of Commissioners, said in response that they don’t see a precinct as profiling.
“It’s just (that) the location will be in western Hoboken,” Ramos said. “It won’t (just) be housing authority residents benefiting from it, the additional patrols. Every resident in western Hoboken will benefit from it. The potential for more immediate response time, who would not want that?”
A North Bergen man was arrested in Massachusetts Tuesday and charged with the murder of Murray.
City officials declined to answer questions on whether the city is considering reopening a precinct at the housing authority; and also declined to comment on the amount of crime in the city’s public housing complexes.
The Hoboken Housing Authority buildings, 28 properties at six locations, are slated for redevelopment. Councilmembers said that the redevelopment plan will better serve low-income residents that has dealt with poor living conditions.
